Nakaya Kuro-Tamenuri Portable Writer

[Korybas]

For quite a long time I lurked in the “Pens from the land of the Rising Sun” sub-forum, trying to familiarize myself with pens I had absolutely no idea about. Very slowly but firmly, I started to yearn for a Nakaya pen, which would be not only my first Nakaya but also my first Japanese fountain pen in general.

 

To tell you the truth, my biggest problem with buying a Nakaya was, what else, its price. Not only that, but living in Greece meant that I would have to pay not only the pen but the outrageous import taxes (o-u-t-r-a-g-e-o-u-s)… :bonk: I had to save money for the best part of the year and finally last November I was ready for the big step. Having heard very good comments here about John Mottishaw and nibs.com, I decided to order my pen from them and have Mr. Mottishaw work on the nib – this pen would be not only my first Nakaya but also my first Mottishaw nib as well.

 

The pen I ordered was a Kuro-Tamenuri Portable Writer, with a Double Broad (BB) stub nib. These are my impressions.

 

 

When I opened the package, I saw a very elegant wooden box, stamped in Japanese kanji and the Nakata logo. I do not read Japanese, but if a fellow member could translate the writing on the Nakaya box I would be grateful. When I opened the box, the pen was resting on a scarlet velvet bed in its protective “kimono”. Packaging is quite superb and preconceives you that an object of art is about to be revealed.

 

Indeed.

 

When I opened the “kimono” to reveal the pen, I was so pleasantly surprised that I had to remind myself to breathe! The urushi is done masterfully, with a layer of red urushi showing under the black urushi (as you can see from the pictures), giving this pen a very minimalistic look. Kuro-Tamenuri is not a “flashy” finish but certainly it is elegant. I have read in other threads that some people had problems with the clips of their Nakayas, being crude and not well finished. The finish of the clip of my Nakaya is superb, so no complains there whatsoever.

 

 

The nib glistened gold and eager to write, so I did not loose any time and filled the pen with FPN Galileo Brown ink. Then I touched the paper, and everything about fountain pen writing took an entirely new perspective for me.

 

 

WOW!

 

The stub nib started to glide on the paper, butter-smooth, as if with a life of its own. I started to write and write and write. I was writing for almost 4 hours and I did not want to stop. Honestly, I only stopped to refill the pen with ink! Several letters that I had to write and was procrastinating for days were ready in a flash! Not only the nib is superb with exactly the right amount of wetness and great line variation, but because this is not a heavy pen (only 20 grams) it is very comfortable when writing. The diameter of the pen (15 mm) as well as its length (128 mm uncapped) sits perfectly in my hand. After almost 4 hours of writing my only source of sadness was the fact that I did not have anything more to write… Imagine that! Never felt like that for any other pen I own, seriously.

 

 

I will refrain for giving any sort of grading to the pen, the craftsmanship or the nib. There is no point; both nib and pen are superb.

 

The only down point for me (and it’s a minor one) is that the ink capacity of the pen is kind of low (0.9 ml). I would love Nakaya to create a bigger converter for their pens. :hmm1:

 

Last but not least, I would like to thank John Mottishaw and nibs.com (I have no affiliation, I am just a very happy customer). Their quality of service is great, they confirm everything with you first and then proceed with the order. The package came safely and the nib was exactly as I wanted it to be, both in characteristics and in ink flow.

 

Now that I have my first Nakaya, I know that sometime I will definitely get another one. Maybe later than sooner, but definitely I have my sights on those pens. Definitely!

[ravantra]

Congrats on a beautiful pen! I have one almost like it in a music nib. Great writer. Enjoy.

[tenurepro]

Thanks for the review and writing sample... i love my Nakaya long cigar and the Kuro Tamenuri finish. Congrats!

 

p.s. love your profile pic... DNA on the brain? is your love for FP's based on nature or nurture... likely a bit of both

Edited January 27, 2013 by tenurepro

[Joe in Seattle]

Excellent review, thank you. I share your enthusiasm for Nibs.com and John Mottishaw.

[Uncle Red]

Stunning pen and nib

[Inguz]

Drool. That is all I have to say.

[ethernautrix]

Happy for you! I'm glad you're enjoying your Nakaya.

 

Opening the box and sliding the pen out of its "kimono" and being overcome by the simple beauty of the pen is a lovely experience -- made lovelier when the pen writes as you like.

[Earthdawn]

First ... congrats .. WOW !!!>. Beautiful...

 

Pictures were great and very much appreciated.

 

But more then anything after reading your post, I loved hearing in your writting the pure joy and enthusiasm you have with the pen.

[pavoni]

Congratulations on your fabulous pen Korybas :clap1: and for providing such an enthusiastic review.

 

I have the very same pen but with a Mottishaw medium (would actually have liked to have been as brave as you with a BB stub :embarrassed_smile: ).

 

To my shame, my pen hasn't seen ink for .......well, far too long Your excellent review has reminded me why I wanted the pen in the first place. Time to unwrap the Nakaya

 

Pavoni.

[Korybas]

Thank you all for your kind words and your thumbs-up!

It surely makes a big difference to have people like you to share the gooood times!

I stand corrupted for Nakayas now... :embarrassed_smile:

 

Aris

[Scott Searer]

For quite a long time I lurked in the “Pens from the land of the Rising Sun” sub-forum, trying to familiarize myself with pens I had absolutely no idea about. Very slowly but firmly, I started to yearn for a Nakaya pen, which would be not only my first Nakaya but also my first Japanese fountain pen in general.

 

To tell you the truth, my biggest problem with buying a Nakaya was, what else, its price. Not only that, but living in Greece meant that I would have to pay not only the pen but the outrageous import taxes (o-u-t-r-a-g-e-o-u-s)… :bonk: I had to save money for the best part of the year and finally last November I was ready for the big step. Having heard very good comments here about John Mottishaw and nibs.com, I decided to order my pen from them and have Mr. Mottishaw work on the nib – this pen would be not only my first Nakaya but also my first Mottishaw nib as well.

 

The pen I ordered was a Kuro-Tamenuri Portable Writer, with a Double Broad (BB) stub nib. These are my impressions.

 

 

When I opened the package, I saw a very elegant wooden box, stamped in Japanese kanji and the Nakata logo. I do not read Japanese, but if a fellow member could translate the writing on the Nakaya box I would be grateful. When I opened the box, the pen was resting on a scarlet velvet bed in its protective “kimono”. Packaging is quite superb and preconceives you that an object of art is about to be revealed.

 

Indeed.

 

When I opened the “kimono” to reveal the pen, I was so pleasantly surprised that I had to remind myself to breathe! The urushi is done masterfully, with a layer of red urushi showing under the black urushi (as you can see from the pictures), giving this pen a very minimalistic look. Kuro-Tamenuri is not a “flashy” finish but certainly it is elegant. I have read in other threads that some people had problems with the clips of their Nakayas, being crude and not well finished. The finish of the clip of my Nakaya is superb, so no complains there whatsoever.

 

 

The nib glistened gold and eager to write, so I did not loose any time and filled the pen with FPN Galileo Brown ink. Then I touched the paper, and everything about fountain pen writing took an entirely new perspective for me.

 

 

WOW!

 

The stub nib started to glide on the paper, butter-smooth, as if with a life of its own. I started to write and write and write. I was writing for almost 4 hours and I did not want to stop. Honestly, I only stopped to refill the pen with ink! Several letters that I had to write and was procrastinating for days were ready in a flash! Not only the nib is superb with exactly the right amount of wetness and great line variation, but because this is not a heavy pen (only 20 grams) it is very comfortable when writing. The diameter of the pen (15 mm) as well as its length (128 mm uncapped) sits perfectly in my hand. After almost 4 hours of writing my only source of sadness was the fact that I did not have anything more to write… Imagine that! Never felt like that for any other pen I own, seriously.

 

 

I will refrain for giving any sort of grading to the pen, the craftsmanship or the nib. There is no point; both nib and pen are superb.

 

The only down point for me (and it’s a minor one) is that the ink capacity of the pen is kind of low (0.9 ml). I would love Nakaya to create a bigger converter for their pens. :hmm1:

 

Last but not least, I would like to thank John Mottishaw and nibs.com (I have no affiliation, I am just a very happy customer). Their quality of service is great, they confirm everything with you first and then proceed with the order. The package came safely and the nib was exactly as I wanted it to be, both in characteristics and in ink flow.

 

Now that I have my first Nakaya, I know that sometime I will definitely get another one. Maybe later than sooner, but definitely I have my sights on those pens. Definitely!

 

Congratulations on your wonderful pen! As for the Japanese 'kanji' it is of course the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word 'han-zi'. While I do not read or speak Japanese, I know some Chinese. Sometimes the Japanese use of the Chinese characters

makes little sense to a reader of Chinese(the languages are not related after all); however in this case the character by character meaning is quite clear: special-made-ten thousand-year-brush (pen). The 'ten thousand year pen' in not idiomatic Chinese （in Chinese a fountain pen is called a gang-bi [steel-pen])--perhaps it refers to the durability of the nib (in a poetic way), or perhaps is functions as a superlative; in any case you have a beautiful pen well worth the wait.

[GallBladder]

For quite a long time I lurked in the “Pens from the land of the Rising Sun” sub-forum, trying to familiarize myself with pens I had absolutely no idea about. Very slowly but firmly, I started to yearn for a Nakaya pen, which would be not only my first Nakaya but also my first Japanese fountain pen in general.

 

To tell you the truth, my biggest problem with buying a Nakaya was, what else, its price. Not only that, but living in Greece meant that I would have to pay not only the pen but the outrageous import taxes (o-u-t-r-a-g-e-o-u-s)… :bonk: I had to save money for the best part of the year and finally last November I was ready for the big step. Having heard very good comments here about John Mottishaw and nibs.com, I decided to order my pen from them and have Mr. Mottishaw work on the nib – this pen would be not only my first Nakaya but also my first Mottishaw nib as well.

 

The pen I ordered was a Kuro-Tamenuri Portable Writer, with a Double Broad (BB) stub nib. These are my impressions.

 

[....images snipped.....]

 

When I opened the package, I saw a very elegant wooden box, stamped in Japanese kanji and the Nakata logo. I do not read Japanese, but if a fellow member could translate the writing on the Nakaya box I would be grateful. When I opened the box, the pen was resting on a scarlet velvet bed in its protective “kimono”. Packaging is quite superb and preconceives you that an object of art is about to be revealed.

 

Indeed.

 

When I opened the “kimono” to reveal the pen, I was so pleasantly surprised that I had to remind myself to breathe! The urushi is done masterfully, with a layer of red urushi showing under the black urushi (as you can see from the pictures), giving this pen a very minimalistic look. Kuro-Tamenuri is not a “flashy” finish but certainly it is elegant. I have read in other threads that some people had problems with the clips of their Nakayas, being crude and not well finished. The finish of the clip of my Nakaya is superb, so no complains there whatsoever.

 

[...snip, snip, snip...]

 

The nib glistened gold and eager to write, so I did not loose any time and filled the pen with FPN Galileo Brown ink. Then I touched the paper, and everything about fountain pen writing took an entirely new perspective for me.

 

[...snip...]

 

WOW!

 

The stub nib started to glide on the paper, butter-smooth, as if with a life of its own. I started to write and write and write. I was writing for almost 4 hours and I did not want to stop. Honestly, I only stopped to refill the pen with ink! Several letters that I had to write and was procrastinating for days were ready in a flash! Not only the nib is superb with exactly the right amount of wetness and great line variation, but because this is not a heavy pen (only 20 grams) it is very comfortable when writing. The diameter of the pen (15 mm) as well as its length (128 mm uncapped) sits perfectly in my hand. After almost 4 hours of writing my only source of sadness was the fact that I did not have anything more to write… Imagine that! Never felt like that for any other pen I own, seriously.

 

[...snip...]

 

I will refrain for giving any sort of grading to the pen, the craftsmanship or the nib. There is no point; both nib and pen are superb.

 

The only down point for me (and it’s a minor one) is that the ink capacity of the pen is kind of low (0.9 ml). I would love Nakaya to create a bigger converter for their pens. :hmm1:

 

Last but not least, I would like to thank John Mottishaw and nibs.com (I have no affiliation, I am just a very happy customer). Their quality of service is great, they confirm everything with you first and then proceed with the order. The package came safely and the nib was exactly as I wanted it to be, both in characteristics and in ink flow.

 

Now that I have my first Nakaya, I know that sometime I will definitely get another one. Maybe later than sooner, but definitely I have my sights on those pens. Definitely!

Until now I have not had a grail pen, but the enthusiasm for Nakaya pens by owners like tenurepro, ethernautrix and yourself is rubbing off.

Edited January 30, 2013 by GallBladder

[AlejoPlay]

This is exactly the pen I want but in the cigar version. Not sure which nib I want yet, but the stub looks delicious!!

[Frank C]

Congratulations on the new pen. It is a beauty. Kuro tamenuri is one of my favorite finishes. Thank you also for helping bail-out Greece by paying the "outrageous" taxes. Now if every Greek ordered a Nakaya from Nibs.com, I would never be able to get another one for me. Forget it!

 

Man nen hitsu is the romaji (Japanese written with Roman letters) translation of the kanji on the box. It literally means 10,000 year writing quill. It is the Japanese name for a fountain pen--a writing quill that will last forever! I took Japanese mostly to meet girls, who knew I would need it for fountain pens?

 

I liked your writing of the Greek alpha beta. What ink did you use?

[Korybas]

Congratulations on the new pen. It is a beauty. Kuro tamenuri is one of my favorite finishes. Thank you also for helping bail-out Greece by paying the "outrageous" taxes. Now if every Greek ordered a Nakaya from Nibs.com, I would never be able to get another one for me. Forget it!

 

Man nen hitsu is the romaji (Japanese written with Roman letters) translation of the kanji on the box. It literally means 10,000 year writing quill. It is the Japanese name for a fountain pen--a writing quill that will last forever! I took Japanese mostly to meet girls, who knew I would need it for fountain pens?

 

I liked your writing of the Greek alpha beta. What ink did you use?

 

 

Thank you, Frank, for the translation of the Japanese writing on the box!

The ink I used for the writing sample was FPN Galileo Manuscript brown, an ink much to my liking, which I did not expect, because I am not a big fan of brown inks. But I see that this specific brown has a lot of charm.

Next ink that I am planning to use with my Nakaya is the FPN Van Gogh Starry Night...

 

Aris

[Frank C]

i like all the FPN inks. Perfect choice for a review of a new pen.

[terminal]

I like the way you wrote this review, and I hope you're really as happy with your new pen as you indicate.

 

I specifically enjoy the tone of the review and the fact you struck such a nice line -- no elitist and, instead, reverent. It really makes it so much nicer when people start out with, "I have worked hard to buy this pen" and not "if you have to ask the price, then it's not for you". I take my hat off to you.

[JonSzanto]

What a happy review. As I mentioned elsewhere, seeing John Mottishaw and his wares setup at the LA Pen Show in a couple of weeks is going to be a very difficult test for me.

 

Very.

[Korybas]

I like the way you wrote this review, and I hope you're really as happy with your new pen as you indicate.

 

I specifically enjoy the tone of the review and the fact you struck such a nice line -- no elitist and, instead, reverent. It really makes it so much nicer when people start out with, "I have worked hard to buy this pen" and not "if you have to ask the price, then it's not for you". I take my hat off to you.

 

 

Terminal, thank you for your words. I feel the same way about "earned the hard way".

Yes, the pen writes wonderfully and gives me such pleasure when using it that I am actually creating things to write... I am happy and I really need this happiness, living where I live and in the times I live. In the end, this I believe is the best thing of all.

 

Aris

[terminal]

That's great to hear -- my heart goes out to the people of Greece

 

Meantime... I need to start saving for my Nakaya