Founder Profile
Saburo Uchida
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Saburo Uchida?
Saburo Uchida is a founder of Canon Inc., which was founded in 1937 with Takeshi Mitarai, Goro Yoshida and Takeo Maeda.
- Company founded
- Canon Inc.
- Founded
- 1937
- Co-founders
- Takeshi Mitarai, Goro Yoshida and Takeo Maeda
Background
Uchida was the business side of the founding team rather than an engineer. Canon's own history describes co-founder Takeo Maeda as his former subordinate.
Founding Story
Saburo Uchida (1899-1982) co-founded the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory with Goro Yoshida, his brother-in-law, and Takeo Maeda in November 1933. When the lab could not make its own lenses or rangefinders, Uchida's connections solved the problem: his brother Ryonosuke had been an auditor at Nippon Kogaku, which led to an introduction to its executive vice president Toyotaro Hori. The resulting agreement had Nippon Kogaku supply the Nikkor lens, lens mount, viewfinder optics and rangefinder for the Hansa Canon of 1936, while the lab built the body and focal-plane shutter. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Sources
This profile does not yet cite a source specific to Saburo Uchida. The sources below document the company company rather than the person, so check them against the claims above.
- Canon Integrated Report 2026: Financial Data (Canon Inc.)
- Canon Inc. Annual Reports (Canon Inc.)