Kowa Optical was established in 1946 as a branch of a textile company founded in 1894. They produced their first camera in 1954 and their first PP SLR in 1960. Uncommon for Japanese cameras, Kowas always came with leaf shutters, which means the shutter
was built into the lens, not the camera. Kowa never produced much, and the last camera was introduced in 1972, although they continued for a while with some 6x6 cameras, like the Kowa Six. The camera production ended in mid '70s. Presented here is an early
Kowa H of 1963, and a late one, the SET R2 of 1970. The quality of later production may have been a problem for the reputation, as very few of the ones I have seen are still working. Kowa also made lenses for other cameras, such as the Prominar-Miranda
for the Miranda B of 1959.