Ohashido (I)

Besides the big three Japanese pen companies –Pilot-Namiki, Platinum-Nakaya, and Sailor– there are a bunch of small operations, some of which I have described on these Chronicles: Masahiro, Eboya,... I haven't spoken much about Ôhashidô, and that despite being very active in the local (Japanese) market.

Ôhashidô –Ôhashidô Ltd.– was formally founded in 1965, but it has its origins in Tokyo in 1912, when Yoshiharu Uemura open his workshop in Asakusa while working for SSS, the big company of the time. He moved to Sendai, about 300 km north of Tokyo, after the Big Kanto Earthquake in 1923 to work with inventor Kazuyoshi Hiratsuka. The new shop was located close to the Big Bridge (Ô-hashi) over the river Hirose. Ôhashidô means “the hall of the big bridge”.

The business was completely destroyed during the War. The operation revived around 1950 in the hands of Yoshiharu's son Eiichi Uehara, but not through manufacturing pens but by fixing them. The production of pens was resumed some years later, and by 1965 Ôhashidô Ltd. started formally.

In 2010, Eiichi's son Yûichi Uehara took control of the company. He has become very active in the Japanese scene by attending a big number of sale events hosted by stationers and department stores where he sells his pens directly.

Yuuichi Uehara at work in Maruzen stationery in Nihonbashi (Tokyo).

The traveling rokuro (traditional lathe).

Ôhashidô's operation is quite unique. It seems anchored in the pre-industrial era. There is barely any system in the production: there are no model names, the warranty card is just Uehara's business card, there are no instruction sheets, etc... Contacting him is not easy either—he has no public email address, and only very recently he open a website (https://ohasibo.theshop.jp/).

As for the pens, they are made mostly in ebonite –sometimes from Nikko Ebonite, some other from old stocks of unclear origin--, and implement Sailor nibs of sizes medium and big (following Sailor names) in both 14 K and 21 K grades. In fact, for some time, Ohashido offered big nibs made of 14 K gold, which was not an option on Sailor pens. In a more distant past, Ohashido used nibs by Ishiwaka Kinpen Seisakusho, Kabutogi Ginjiro, and even Ishi Shoten (Yotsubishi). Some sources also speak of nibs made by Eiichi Uehara himself.

A big Ôhashidô nib made of 14 K gold. Of course, made by Sailor.

Pens for sale...

All current Ôhashidô pens use Sailor cartridges and converters. The later, at least, if the barrel was big enough, of course.

And on another Chronicle I will describe some Ôhashidô pen in detail.

Elysee pen, unknown model – Aurora Black

Bruno Taut
Nakano, January 2019
etiquetas: Sailor, Ohashido, Ishikawa Kinpen Seisakusho, Yotsubishi, nibmeister Kabutogi Ginjiro

Pen Obsessions

Once again, I encountered one of those pens that show the essential conflict between the collector and the historian, or between the the rarity and the icon. I am well aware that most collectors would not hesitate to choose the exception over the norm despite the fact that very little do these rarities offer to the understanding of the history of pens.

Today's pen is a prototype.

In 2001, on the occasion of its 90th anniversary, Sailor created the corresponding anniversary pen. This was called “Mannenhitsu Dôraku”, something like “pen obsession". That was a limited edition of 900 units, made of dark or clear briarwood. This was –dare I say-- one of the most interesting limited editions made by Sailor due to its two-fold nib—a cross nib in the Sailor way of naming its specialty nibs.

The final version of the 90th anniversary pen of Sailor's. 900 units in dark or clear briarwood.

The prototype also implements a double nib, but a more complex one: a King Cobra with an overfeed (called “emperor”) to ensure the ink supply.

The prototype.

This was, apparently, a proof of concept for the final anniversary pen. I can only guess that the actual cost of this combination, King Cobra nib plus overfeed, was finally too costly and was rejected.

A King Cobra nib with overfeed.

The very characteristic point of the King Cobra.

These are the dimensions of the prototype:

Length closed: 150 mm
Length open: 132 mm
Length posted: 175 mm
Diameter: 15 mm
Weight: 41.0 g (inked)

In actual terms there is nothing unique to this pen... save the combination of elements. And stylophiles love it.

My thanks to Mr. Sekine.

Iwase Seisakusho prototype – Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue

Bruno Taut
Nakano, January 8th 2019
labels: Sailor, estilofilia, plumín

Madrid 2018

The XV edition of the Madrid Pen Show is long over –it happened in November--, but it is still time to reflect on the outcome.

Number-wise, the results of this edition were not essentially different than those of the previous year—between 1500 and 1600 visitors along the three days of the event, 63 traders on 67 tables. Therefore, the results cannot be very different to those of 2017: about EUR 500,000 total business volume, with about EUR 6,000/vendor on average.

Some sources say, however, that on this occasion (2018), visitors were more willing to buy than in previous years. Another interesting detail was the presence of  pen aficionados from neighboring countries, thus making this event more international.

The novelties this year came in the form of auctions –on the day prior to the beginning of the show, and on the last day--, and a couple of seminars –on calligraphy and on urushi and maki-e techniques. Therefore, for the first time in the Madrid Pen Show, the event was supported on three legs—the commercial, the social, and the academic.

Finally, the new venue —Hotel Miguel Ángel— provided all of us with more room for enjoying it. The lack of room had been a historical inconvenient on the Madrid event. The only trouble was the irregular illumination in the lounge. This problem should not be difficult to solve, and many hope this was the case, as the Hotel Miguel Ángel will host the event for several years to come.

Ray Walter's in black ebonite, Franklin-Christoph music nib – Montblanc Irish Green

Bruno Taut
Nakano, November 23th 2018
labels: evento, Madrid

Katana or Kimono?

A play in one act. Based on actual events.

Characters: He, She, a Clerk.

A big stationery shop in Tokyo, buying a Nakaya.

The kimono? Maybe not.

HE: Among the pen community, the silk pen case is known as “the kimono”.
SHE: No Japanese would ever call that a kimono.

SHE: (Facing the clerk.) What is the name of that pen case?
CLERK: We call it “katana bukuro”.
HE: A bag for the sword?
SHE: I told you—no one in Japan calls it a kimono.
HE: Did anyone in Japan hear about pens being mightier than swords?


Afterword:

A “katana bukuro”, a bag for the sword. Besides the obvious meaning, it is also an ornament carried by women in their kimono at their wedding. Apparently, Japanese women needed some form of self-defense on those dire situations... The irony is that the “katana bukuro” is merely ornamental and inside there is nothing but a cylindrical cardboard instead of the traditional dagger, the “kaiken”.

The ornamental (and empty) "katana bukuro" with the elaborate knot and the two tassels.

A pen would be a better filling—provided the name of the bag changed accordingly.

Pilot Custom Heritage 912 – Wagner 2008 ink

Bruno Taut
Shinjuku, October 30th 2018
Etiquetas: Platinum, Japón

Datation of Japanese Pens. VII. Sailor's Nibs (II)

Some years ago I spoke about dating marks on Sailor nibs: up to 2016, the manufacturing date on Sailor nibs was encoded in the form

abb

where a was the last digit of the year, and bb was the ordinal of the month: 01 for January, 02 for February, and so on.

710. On this case, October of 1957.

212. December of 1982? Maybe 1972?

A Naginata Togi nib from October 1999 (910).

Starting at some point in 2017, Sailor changed this code for another one in the form

ccX

Now, cc are the two last digits of the year, and X is a letter that encodes the month of production in the form A for January, B for February, and so on until L for December.

July of 2017 (17G). Photo courtesy of Inktraveler.

17K: November of 2017.

And now, the former ambiguities (does this 9 mean 1979, 1989 or 1999?) are eliminated.

Muji Aluminum pocket pen – Pelikan Black

Bruno Taut
Nakano, October 29th, 2018
etiquetas: Sailor, plumín.

The Case of Naginata. II. The Two-Year Hiatus

Allegedly, Sailor stopped the distribution of specialty nibs (Naginata Togi and derivatives) in Winter of 2016-17. Or so we were told. The reasons behind that decision were the difficulty to attend the demand of those nibs, particularly from the North American market, and the need to train more people to make them. And in the meantime –until further notice, they said-- no more Naginata were to be distributed.

A collection of (old) Naginata nibs.

Or were they?

Indeed they were, albeit in small numbers and through selected retailers. On the following pictures we can see a Naginata Togi nib produced in 2017. The pen was purchased at a well-known stationer in Tokyo.

An old Naginata?

Not so old --2017--, but the old engraving. (And on another Chronicle I should speak about the dating codes on modern Sailor nibs).

That nib displays what now we know as the old engraving. This shows how this nibs predate the new policy –new prices, new distributions, new decoration-- of Sailor re specialty nibs.

Nibs like this –and it is not the only example-- are the last examples of the second generation of Naginata nibs, and the later pricing decisions of Sailor is making them all the more desirable.

Pilot Custom Heritage 912 – Wagner 2008 ink

Bruno Taut
Bunkyo, October 23rd 2018
etiquetas: mercado, Sailor, plumín

Anonymous Music

My latest acquisition is an anonymous pen with a very non-anonymous nib. And this combination make the whole pen all the more intriguing, and, for some, appealing.

The pen, in essence, is a Japanese eyedropper, made of ebonite with a very discreet maki-e decoration –a "tanzaku" (poem cards) pattern. The clip is of the teardrop shape, just like many Ban-ei pens.

An anonymous pen. Other than the inscriptions on the nib, the only text on it says R14K, and is on the cap ring. The very discreet maki-e --a "tanzaku" pattern-- is not signed.

And this clip, together with the overall shape of the pen and the shape of the section, and even the geometry of the ebonite feed point out at Ban-ei (Sakai Eisuke) as the master mind behind it. However, this idea is nothing but a guess, although this pen is very likely to have been made in the 1960s at Asakusa area in Tokyo.

A Ban-ei pen (top) and the anonymous pen with an interesting nib. Note the similarities in the shape. The Ban-ei pen is larger in all dimensions.

Feeds and sections of the pens on the previous picture: Ban-ei on top, anonymous on bottom. This geometry of the feed was very common in Japan from the 1960s till well into the 1990s on smaller pen makers.

The comes the nib—a beautiful music nib perfectly identifiable as made by nibmeister Kubo Kohei. In fact, the nib inscription NK stands for Nobel Kubo, where Nobel is one of the brands Mr. Kubo created during his career as nib maker. The nib is likely to be a replaced unit, but it could also show the origin of the pen itself. Then, is this a Nobel pen? Many a Nobel pen were anonymous –no brand name was imprinted on the pen--, but ebonite was not a typical material on that brand as Mr. Kubo doesn’t work with the lathe.

The music nib by Kubo Kohei. It is made of steel and is gold plated. The inscriptions read " STANDARD / NK / (JIS mark) / IRIDIUM / < 3 > / NPK ".

All in all, not much we know for certain about this pen, but the nib, and the unpretentious decoration make it most interesting.

These are the dimensions of the pen:

Length closed: 138 mm
Length open: 119 mm
Length posted: 166 mm
Diameter: 13.7 mm
Weight: 16.7 g (dry)
Ink deposit: 2.3 ml

And the search for information continues…

Twsbi Eco with Kubo music nib – Aurora Black

Bruno Taut
Nakano, October 16th 2018
etiquetas: nibmeister Kubo Kohei, maki-e, Ban-ei, Nobel, marca desconocida, plumín, plumín musical