Showing posts with label Taccia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taccia. Show all posts

28 February 2019

The Kubo Singularity

The big three Japanese pen companies make their own nibs, and it seems very hard to get those nibs as spare parts or as third party nibs for other makers. However, there are cases of that:

Hakase uses Pilot and Sailor nibs with their own original imprint. Ohashido and Taccia do the same with Sailor nibs.


A Pilot nib labeled as Hakase.

The rest either use Pilot nibs without any modification –StyloArt Karuizawa— or use some of the traditional supplies of third party nibs: Bock for Eboya and Masahiro (although previously Masahiro implemented Pilot nibs); JoWo for Taccia (lower end pens) and Wajimaya Zen-ni.


A JoWo nib labeled as Taccia.

The newcomer Iwase Seisakusho aims at sourcing its nibs from old nibmeister Kubo Kohei for its original pens. However, this is still an uncertain operation whose continuity we can only speculate about. Not to mention that the old age of Kubo Kohei –pushing 90 years old-- might affect any plan for a long term supply of parts.



Nibmeister Kubo at work.

But the bottom line is that Kubo Kohei is the sole independent maker of nibs in Japan, and his production is small, slow and artisanal.

Is there room –and market— for another independent operation in Japan to supply nibs and feeds to small pen companies?


Iwase Seisakusho prototype with Henckel nib – Takeda Jimiku Hisoku

Bruno Taut
Chuo, February 12th 2019
Etiquetas: Pilot, plumín, mercado, Sailor, Eboya, Hakase, Ohashido, Iwase Seisakusho, Taccia, Bock, JoWo, Wajimaya, nibmeister Kubo Kohei

27 September 2018

Nakabayashi Again

The name Nakabayashi is not new on these Chronicles. It is a Japanese company making stationeries and office supplies, and some months ago entered the market of fountain pen inks through a collaboration with Sailor.

Now, Nakabayashi is back on the spotlight with another line of inks—Taccia inks. And these inks deserve some comments.


Taccia inks, by Nakabayashi.

First are the news of Nakabayashi becoming the primary owner of Taccia pens since last April. At that time, Itoya of America handed its share to Nakabayashi.

The second issue if about the actual maker of these new inks. As I said before, the first Nakabayashi inks –those themed after ukiyo-e colors—had been made by Sailor, and being a recent development (June-July of 2018), it was reasonable to assume that the connection between Nakabayashi and Sailor continued.


No news from Sailor on the label.

But that is not the case, and Taccia inks are made by Nakabayashi itself. Then, will there be new batches –new revolutions- in the ukiyo-e line of inks? Who will make them?


13 new colors: kuro, tsuchi, cha, daidai, aka, momo, ebi, murasaki, ao, aoguro, sora, midori, uguisu.


Aoguro. Blue-black.

The Taccia inks are a collection of 13 colors with Japanese names. The inkwells contain 40 ml of ink and cost JPY 1000 (plus taxes). That means JPY 25/ml of ink.

Not an inexpensive ink, but a lot more economical than most Sailor inks, including those made for Nakabayashi.

Is Taccia becoming finally Japanese?


Montblanc 149 – Pelikan Black

Bruno Taut
Nakano, September 27th, 2018
etiquetas: Nakabayashi, Taccia, tinta, Itoya, Sailor, mercado

23 November 2017

Yatate

Originally, a “yatate” (矢立) is a stand for the arrows in the old tradition of Japanese archery, “kyudô” (弓道). But the word is better known as a container to carry a brush and a small deposit of water. It was used by merchants and educated people who had the need to write on the go.


"Benri-gata" type of "yatate". This is the type whose style was copied for the "yatate" pen. On this example, the brush container has some holes.


This type of "yatate", "ittai-gata", is better known.

With the apparition of the fountain pen, those traditional “yatate” became obsolete. However, the name was rescued to describe a particular type of fountain pen. On them, the cap is almost as long as the pen itself—nib, section, and barrel. When closed, the pen might look just like a rod of ebonite, but upon opening it, a full size pen show up.


A typical "yatate" pen made of ebonite. At first, it just looks like an ebonite rod. Picture courtesy of Mr. Ariel Zúñiga.


Only open it is possible to see that there was a pen inside. Picture courtesy of Mr. Ariel Zúñiga.

“Yatate” pens saw their glory days by the beginning of the twentieth century. By 1920 they were gone almost completely, and only the occasional retro-looking pen in this geometry kept them alive.

Taccia is one of the brands stationer Itoya uses for its own pens, others being Romeo, Mighty, Natsuki, Itoya. Taccia pens, interestingly enough, are available overseas. In Japan, though, its distribution seems limited to Itoya shops. Some of its models, mostly high end, implement Sailor nibs, whereas the least expensive ones use JoWo nibs made of steel.


Obviously, a Taccia pen.

The following model is called Taccia Covenant, and it is, in actual terms, a “yatate” pen made of plastic. The Covenant uses international cartridges and converters, and sports a very correct JoWo steel nib. The available nib points are F, M, and B. The feed, needless to say, is made of plastic.



The "Midnight Breeze" Taccia Covenant. Well, a "yatate" pen.

This model comes in three possible colors: marbled brown (“Parchment Swirl”) with silver clip and rings; marbled blue (“Midnight Breeze”) with silver ornaments; and black (“Jet Black”) with golden accents.

The long cap screws on the pen both when closed and when posted. Posted, the pen is quite thick and could become a bit uncomfortable to some users. Unposted, the pen is very comfortable.


When posted, it becomes a hefty pen.

These are its dimensions:

Length closed: 145 mm.
Length open: 139 mm.
Length posted: 182 mm.
Diameter of the body: 12.5 mm.
Diameter of the cap: 15.5 mm.
Weight (inked): 34 g (uncapped, 19.0 g)


The steel nib made by JoWo.

The current price in Japan is JPY 14000, plus taxes, and it does not fare well against the workhorses of the main three Japanese manufacturers of fountain pens—Pilot´s Custom 74 and Custom 91, Platinum´s 3776 Century, and Sailor´s Slim Pro Gear, Profit and Promenade. All of them implement 14 K gold nibs and cost between JPY 10000 and JPY 12000 (save for the Platinum Century 3776 with music nib).

But they are not “yatate” pens…


My thanks to Mr. Ariel Zúñiga.


Eboya Hakobune XL – Sailor Black

Bruno Taut
Nakano, November 5th, 2017
etiquetas: Itoya, mercado, Japón, JoWo, Taccia