Welcome to Nakaya, your handmade fountain pen shop introducing some of the finest Japanese nib craftsmen in the world.
Each one of our craftsmen worked for Platinum Pen Company for more than 40 years and is now retired.
All are masters of the fountain pen manufacturing process.
For years the great Platinum factory craftsmen have put on "traveling clinics"at many large department stores and fountain pen shops all over Japan.
After years of planning and conducting pen shows, we decided to launch our website and show the world our handmade fountain pen craftsmanship.
As for the name of ' NAKAYA FOUNTAIN PEN',
The name NAKAYA is the original name given to
Platinum Pen Company when it was founded in 1919.
The name NAKAYA represents the utmost in quality.
Our mission is to design a perfect pen
for your hand and for your hand only.
Each person writes differently and
with our site we hope to enlighten you to the
wonders and glories of fountain pen writing,
and personalized designing.
What is a handmade fountain pen?
There are at least 150 steps in the creation process of a handmade fountain pen.
If we add the surface finishing and decorating processes such as iron plate and armite it goes up to over 300 steps. Fountain pens are made through all these steps and when the final adjustment of nib is done by hand of the master, they are called "handmade fountain pens".
NAKAYA's HANDMADE FOUNTAIN PEN
At NAKAYA we do not call it "handmade" if only the nib is adjusted.
It is true that adjustment of the nib is the most important part of the process for perfect writing quality, however, this adjustment of the nib will cause a slight change in the total form of the nib and the fitting balance with the nib feed.
Therefore we think every single part need to be made by hand and every fountain pen must be fine tuned with the utmost precision.
At NAKAYA, we make a "Carte(personal record)" for each customer concerning his/her writing characteristics. Checking this record we customize and adjust the entire pen to fit to its owner's hand perfectly.
NAKAYA ORIGINAL FOUNTAIN PENS
For example, NAKAYA original model/black.
The ebonite, traditional material for pens, is drilled, turned and shaped by the lathe craftsman's hand individually. Entire length:16.2cm - 16.5cm with cap posted on the barrel(weight:19g - 23g) We manufacture within the above scale range based on your "carte"(personal record). The surface of the pen is finished with "URUSHI" lacquer of Wajima area.
This special finish protects your fountain pen from fading or deterioration over time.
NAKAYA's "leather roll model"
NAKAYA's leather roll model production starts with choosing the best leather. The quality of the carefully selected cow leather could even be used for making high quality bags. This high quality leather is colored one at a time to acquire a special deep tone, and it is rolled to the barrel carefully using a potter's wheel. You can coordinate with your other leather goods.
The leather roll model is most suitable as a personalized gift.
While paying utmost attention to the nib, pen feeder and total balance of the barrel, we, Nakaya Fountain Pen Co., would like to always pursue the beauty of the pen's appearance. Especially Makie fountain pens have constantly been requested by the customers abroad since the company's establishment, and also due to our policy mentioned above it was the most interesting product for us.
To apply the Makie on fountain pens, we first searched for the techniques of firm "urushi lacquer" in the traditional urushi lacquer place, Wajima, to make the best base coating for Makie. Wajima city has more than 250 artists who are engaged in urushi craftwork and Makie, which is outstanding number compared with other Makie areas in Japan. This means Wajima has variety of good techniques and fresh materials always available.
We also started selecting the ebonite which absorb the urushi lacquer well so that it can be the best canvas for the urushi painting. After all these preparations it took us another one and half years to finalize the first Makie fountain pen, making several sample pens to find the best lacquer technique, "tame nuri"( this technique is used for our pen type -tame nuri red model ) and "roiro shiage" (this technique is used to almost all of Nakaya lacquer ware pen as final coating).
Process of Makie production
The Makie fountain pen is the perfect collaboration of Makie artists in Wajima and fountain pen specialists of Nakaya with very detailed artwork which becomes more and more beautiful, the longer you see it and use it. We would like to continue pursuing the Japanese traditional beauty we can be proud of.
To remove dust, filter the urushi first.
Apply urushi lacquer on fountain pen barrel. Fair expertise is needed to put urushi evenly without the brush mark. Depending on the needs, urushi is applied repeatedly. In case of Tame-nuri, urushi is applied as such that base color will be seen as time passes when Uwa-nuri urushi lacquer becomes more and more translucent.
After urushi lacquering, it is dried in the "nushiburo" behind the craftsman to avoid dust. The barrel is turned few times so that urushi does not droop down and will have same thickness.
The surface processing of briar.
Put the high quality and first class raw urushi on cotton cloth and apply on the ground surface and wipe with soft Japanese paper appropriately. Repeat this process and make the surface glossy.
Performing Makie. Paint the picture with urushi and sprinkle gold powder on it.
Gold powder is fixed only to the place where urushi is applied.
Proceed the work little by little with thin paintbrush. Plate attached to thumb is something like palette.
Patterns used for this Makie fountain pens are three Japanese traditional motives by themes such as, "Japanese classic entertainment", "Japanese Ka-Cho-Fu-Gestu ( flower, bird, ascenely, and moon )" , and "Mainland Chinese Kissyo" which is the origin of Japanese culture. The most appropriate Makie techniques for each motives are used such as "Togidashi", "Taka Makie", "Bokashi", etc.
This series' motives are the Japanese traditional entertainments such as "Kabuki", "Nou", "Yokyoku". This unique sense of beauty and thoughts are developed and communicated from generation to generation and it became a unique culture. Various scenes described in Makie will be kept deeply in your mind and brings you slowly to the world of ancient times. It's a kind of privilege only the owner of this pen could have.
Tennyo no Hagoromo (Celestial maiden's robe of feathers)
Shi-shi no ko otoshi (A mother lion pushes her children to the bottom of a ravine)
Rashomon
Since the ancient times people have been pursuing for the ideal happiness of life. In China there are so called five happiness, "benevolence", "fate", "long life", "no sickness" and "financial power". It is said that human happiness is to make a fortune, live a healthy long life, own a benevolence and die naturally. This idea of five happiness was communicated also to Japan. Changing its form and patterns, this belief became familiar to Japanese people and it is still considered to be the emotional support of people.
Kiku-zukushi (Full of chrysantemum) Ku-roku (Nine deers) Botan Karakusa (Peony arabesque design)
Nanten Karakusa (Sacred bamboo, Nandina arabesque design)
A Tiger and bamboo
The Phoenix
Ryukyu Tsuikin "A Flying Dragon
Japanese taste: "Ka-Cho-Fu-Getsu" series
There is an expression in Japanese to describe the natural beauty and taste of four seasons: "Ka-Cho-Fu-Getsu". The Japanese sense of beauty is based on this thoughts and this is succeeded to now.
Maki Makie (Japanese cypress Makie)
Kawasemi (Kingfisher)
Kodai Akikusa (Ancient autumn weed)
Botan (Peony flowers)
Nakaya has successfully put this beautiful Japanese mind and the world of "Ka-Cho-Fu-Getsu" on the small canvas of fountain pen barrel so that you can enjoy the scenaries of four seasons.
Nakaya puts an autograph (we call "Mei" in Japanese) of Makie artist and serial number for some specific
model.
We deliver Maki-e fountain pen in an exclusive paulownia wooden box .
| Nib | Width of the line(mm) | Characteristic, usage |
| Super Extra Fine | 0.18`0.24 | Especially suited for fine numbers and characters, suitable for bookkeeping. |
| Extra Fine | 0.24`0.28 | For fine numbers and characters, suitable for students' note taking. |
| Fine | 0.28`0.34 | For general fine characters, suitable for students' note taking. |
| Medium fine | 0.32`0.38 | Between medium and fine. Suitable for letter writing. |
| Medium | 0.34`0.44 | Smooth writing, suitable for general writing. |
| Broad | 0.44`0.54 | Suitable for manuscript, address writing. |
| Extra Broad | 0.66`0.86 | Suitable for those who love broad writing. |
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DETAILS
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