I don't doubt you, but my recollection was that my early Nishikis (one Semi-Pro and one Pro) were both built from Tange, not Ishiwata. The Semi was pretty heavy and dead, but the Pro seemed like a big improvement in all respects, though it was also a more correct size and had sew-ups. This was back in the 70s so memory brain cells can be misfiring, but they were not early enough to be American Eagles...I'm sure Kawamura made great advances in design and construction as he went along, based on the Nishiki Superbe I had much later.