Namiki's First four filler types

[kamakura-pens]

Pilot’s First Four Fillers.

 

I have received a few e-mails recently about this topic so instead of answering them all back channel, I thought I would share this information with everyone. I know most people here are interested in modern Japanese pens, but I know a few have an interest in the older ones, so enjoy.

 

Pilot offered four types of fillers in their first catalog that came out in the spring of 1920. Most of these fillers you may recognize, but at least one might be new to you.

 

When Naimiki Ryousuke started his pen company in 1918, he was already late in the game. Sailor had already been making pens since 1911, and several other pen makers had been up and running even earlier. Namiki studied the market and saw that basically there were two types of fountain pens on the Japanese market , pens of quality and pens of imitation. Quality didn’t always mean the best materials and workmanship; often clever marketing created quality in the mind of the customer that simply didn’t exist.

 

http://www.kamakurapens.com/FPN/Orion5.jpg

The stationary section of the Maruzen Department store in 1915

 

Undoubtedly Namiki studied the pens that were selling well at the Maruzen department store. This importance of this store is hard to describe. The store first opened in the 1860’s, but it still exists today with several branches scattered across Japan. Today it is a cool bookstore; often they have art books in English that I couldn’t find anywhere else. Likewise, in the early 1900’s, the store sold pens that couldn’t be found anywhere else. The most expensive pens were the Waterman imports. Before the Japanese imported BMW’s and Mercedes’, the wealthy showed off their station with a western suit and a Waterman pen. Very few people could afford one, but anyone that could write, wanted one.

With an eye on what was seen as the best quality, Namiki introduced his first four fillers in 1920.

http://www.kamakurapens.com/FPN/PilotFirstFour.jpg

Namiki's first four filler types.

 

P-shiki

The first pen at the top of the image is one most of us already know. Namiki called this pen a P-shiki (P-system) and it is the eyedropper filler with the ink cut off plunger. The Japanese first learned of this pen when Maruzen started importing Onoto self fillers. Onoto actually made these as plunger fillers (much like the modern Pilot Custom 823) but the Japanese customers didn’t care if the pen could fill itself, what they appreciated was that the plunger when closed fit into the section, sealing the ink inside. In the 1920’s most people still wore kimonos and staining such a garment with ink was something of a sin. (You might recall the scene in Sayuri where some of the geisha deliberately stained a rival’s kimono) I am not sure how well these actually worked, but it was a wonderful selling point. Namiki claimed his P-shiki was just as good as the expensive Onotos and at a fraction of the price. This was Namiki’s most popular filler and if you find an early hard rubber Namiki, it is likely one of these pens. Pilot mass-produced this style pen well into the 50’s and they still make these pens for their large maki-e pens.

 

L-shiki

The most expensive pen in the Maruzen store was a Waterman safety filler with a solid gold overlay. Many makes had “Safety Pens” but that term was used loosely. To some makers it simply meant a pen with fine threads in the section joint. For Waterman it was a spiral cam, that would extend and retract the nib into the barrel, just like lipstick from a tube. Now, Just about every day you can find a Waterman safety on ebay, but in 1920’s Japan, you had to be very well off to afford such a luxury. Namiki seemed to know that he wouldn’t sell many of these pens, but offering a few in the catalog added prestige to the entire line. I have only seen a few Namiki Safety pens in the last 20 years. If you ever get the chance to buy one, grab it because you probably won’t get a second chance. My Pilot Safety above has an ornate sterling silver floral overlay (more of a band) and sterling capband.

http://www.kamakurapens.com/FPN/June1919MaruzenCatalog.jpg

Above is a page from the June 1919 Maruzen catalog sowing off the luxury Pilot Safety Fillers

 

 

 

T-shiki

The T-shiki was the answer to the Waterman Lever filler. These pens looked nice in the stores, but they had a fatal flaw. The early rubber sacks quickly turned to goo in the hot steamy Tokyo rainy season and summer. To ake matters worse, most people used the traditional carbon based ink which seemed to exacerbate the condition. Replacement sacs were very difficult to find and more often than not, a lever-filler owner discovered that his pen had become a simple dip pen with no way to fill it. By 1926, the rubber sac recipes had improved, but the stigma would follow them well into the 1930s. The Pilot lever above is from around 1925, and has a nice falcon nib.

 

N-shiki

My Personal favorite. In the catalog it was the N-shiki, but in other Pilot literature this pen was often called the Hoshi-Awasei or Star System. This was an eyedropper filler with a unique safety system. The pen had a rotating bezel on the end of the section. When the bezel was rotated so that the star’s lined up, ink would flow to the nib, when the bezel was rotated and the stars were misaligned, ink would be sealed inside the barrel. The sections for this pen were quite complicated and by 1925 they were dropped from the catalog. These pens are also painfully difficult to find, but they do turn up occasionally. You just need to know what you are looking for.

 

http://www.kamakurapens.com/FPN/PilotHoshiawasei1.jpg

My Pilot N-shiki matched next to the one in the 1920 Pilot catalog.

 

http://www.kamakurapens.com/FPN/PilotHoshiawasei2.jpg

The early pens with clips are hard to find, since this was an added option. In the 1920's not everyone was wearing western suits yet.

 

http://www.kamakurapens.com/FPN/PilotHoshiawasei3.jpg

a close up of the stars.

 

http://www.kamakurapens.com/FPN/PilotHoshiawasei4.jpg

One of my favorite pens. A pilot N-shiki with a solid gold "chiken foot" filigre band.

 

If any one has images of similar pens, I would love to see them.

Stay well

Dr. Ron Dutcher

 

 

[Nikolaos]

Very interesting reading Ron,

 

Thanks for posting

 

Nikolaos

[HDoug]

Fascinating -- and great pics. Thanks much for posting.

 

Doug