niponica

2024 NO.36

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All Things Pen and Paper in Japan

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Japan's Outstanding Stationery

Fountain pens crafted with the Japanese maki-e lacquer technique have passed from generation to generation for 100 years. (Photo: PILOT Corporation)

Fountain Pens

Naginata Togi Nib Fountain Pen

Many Japanese stationery manufacturers have the expertise to design their own original fountain pen nibs. The Naginata Togi crafted by The Sailor Pen Co., Ltd. is one example. The unconventionally large point at the end of the nib is shaped like a long sword blade (“naginata” in Japanese), and sharpened to a smooth angle. This nib design creates thicker lines when the pen is angled closer to the paper and thinner lines when held upright, producing beautiful lines for the strokes in kanji characters. Photos: THE SAILOR PEN CO., LTD.

CUSTOM URUSHI

Nearly 100 years ago, the Laccanaite method of lacquering fountain pens made of ebonite was invented. Pilot released the maki-e fountain pen (top) in 1925, which featured painted designs with gold and other powders. In recent years, not only maki-e fountain pens, but other premium lacquer fountain pens coated to a mirror-like shine in red and black urushi have become popular. Photo: PILOT Corporation
Bottom: Maki-e fountain pens from 1925

Pencils

Hokusign

The specially manufactured lead in these pencils is about twice as strong as the lead in ordinary pencils, which allows even soft black leads like 3B and 4B to withstand strong pressure. The pencils are ideal for drawing and painting, as the graphite does not shed or mark up the hands. The pencil shaft color is called Hokusai Blue, inspired by the ukiyoe woodblock print artist Katsushika Hokusai. Photos: KUTSUWA CO., LTD.

Hi-uni Art Set

This set contains pencils with 22 different degrees of lead hardness, ranging from 10H to 10B. The leads are made from a uniform mixture of high-purity graphite and clay to provide smooth, black strokes. These pencils have long been a favorite drawing tool. Photos: MITSUBISHI PENCIL COMPANY, LIMITED

Notebooks

Japonica Gakushucho Notebook

Since their release in 1970, Japonica Gakushucho notebooks have been a favorite of Japanese children. The lineup offers about 50 different types and sizes of ruled lines and graph paper to accommodate different school grades and subjects, as well as for different uses like writing essays or practicing kanji characters. Photos: SHOWA NOTE CO., LTD.

Campus Notebook

This classic notebook counts not just students, but all generations, among its devoted fans. The Campus lineup offers ruled lines for all different applications, including graph paper, vertical ruled, and dotted lines, as well as narrow to wide ruled paper ranging from 5 to 10 mm spacing. These notebooks are also manufactured with the environment in mind, using forestcertified paper for the pages inside. Photo: KOKUYO Co., Ltd.