The best Namiki Emperor Urushi

[rubyeyespenlover]

I'm so happy with this pen that I want to know your personal opinion.

[Chris Chalmers]

I am so happy to say I have this pen........Vermillion without any rings and with B nib and it is just perfect for my hand, even though it is a huge pen, it's light and so comfy for arthritic thumb! I love that it's an ED by design too - and a humungus THANK YOU to the lovely friend who gave it to me...........so very generous - beyond the bounds of both friendship and generosity!! Filled with Diamine Marine right now and in use! :wub:

[rubyeyespenlover]

I'm happy for you Chris !

 

I put a complete review of the pen online!!!

 

Many pics!

 

Take a look!!!!

Edited January 18, 2010 by rubyeyespenlover

[pay]

Fun poll.

 

By the way: I don't think there's an actual difference between "red" and "vermilion" urushi on the Emperor.

I know some vendors use the names differently, but I think that usage is just inconsistent and probably incorrect.

 

As far as I can tell there are at least three modern variations of the Red/Vermilion pen:

1. The older, with no rings and the <50> nib with no Mt. Fuji (rubyeyespenlover & I both have this one)

2. The more recent with no rings and the Fuji nib

3. The 2 rings with Fuji nib

 

And they are all the same color to within variations due to supply and/or fading. Here is the

Pilot website: http://www.pilot.co.jp/namiki/urushi/ which shows #2 and #3 above. In his book,

Christope Larquemin calls them "Black and Red" and shows pen #1. He also says the modern versions

were made from the 1980s and that the vintage pens were all black, with variations of rings, etc.

 

For what it's worth: for the Black Emperor, I prefer the 2 rings version, while for the red/vermilion

I prefer it with no rings ... so maybe I get to vote twice!

 

Great review and pix, rubyeyespenlover! I could not agree more with everything you said.

[Siv]

I have seen emperors with the fuji nib, some gold all over and other two-one with the Mt Fuji snow cap picked out in rhodium. It looks to me tha the two-tone nib is only available on the maki-e pens but can someone confirm this?

[Jopen]

The nib I have is M-F, not modified, and it is a fantastic nib indeed.

[Sblakers]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but I find these pens terribly interesting and somewhat hard to find. Wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts on these pens, they have been out for a while now so I'm sure there are new owners who could chime in.

[shuuemura]

I have an Emperor in Vermilion. The first thing you note about the pen is that it is huge. Definitely a desk pen. Ink capacity is great, being an eyedropper. I like the pen but over time I found that my medium nib didn't put down as much ink as I liked, so the pen went off to Pilot Pen USA to get a nib change to broad. Will chime in again when I get back the pen this Thursday.

[Sblakers]

Very nice. Thank you. I look forward to hearing your results. I am actually torn between the M and the B. I like a wet line that's fairly fine. From what I understand the broad is more like a western medium and the medium like a fine ? You say the pen didn't put down as much ink as you like, does that's mean it was a dry writer or the line thickness wasn't to your liking.

[shuuemura]

I believe you are right about the nib size comparison to western standards. My pen was a dry writer, and the nib always skipped on an upstroke of a circle. I attribute that to the nib not being adjusted well enough rather than the design of the pen. The good thing about these pens is their lifetime warranty, so four years after I bought the pen I decided I had enough and sent it off for the nib exchange and inkflow testing.

[Sblakers]

I didn't know they had life time warranties. That's fantastic! Out of curiosity which nib do you have. The Mount Fuji or the old one with a 50 on it.

[shuuemura]

I have the new Mount Fuji nib. See the Namiki website for information on the lifetime warranty: http://www.namiki.com/aboutNamiki/lifetimeGuarantee.php

[shuuemura]

An update: I just received my pen back! The good people at Pilot USA exchanged my medium Mt. Fuji nib to an old-style <50> broad nib, which (to me, at least) is the more desirable version of this nib! They also enclosed gratis a 70 mL Pilot Blue ink bottle for my use. Needless to say, I am stoked. Am at work now, but will update when I get back home and ink this beauty up.

[shuuemura]

Because pictures say a thousand words:

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7388/9154338145_f2dbe44ebd_b.jpg

 

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2839/9154338087_a3103a9daa_b.jpg

Edited June 28, 2013 by shuuemura

[Pen2009]

I believe the #50 nib offers the 3 options: F, M and B. Is the line width and wetness similar to Pilot's #15 nibs? With the #15 nibs, there is a significant jump from F to M in terms of the line width. I am interested in the line width somehwere between #15's F and M. I think MB 149's EF nib seems to fall into this range.

[Sblakers]

Congrats on getting your pen back, your writing sample looks fantastic. I ended up getting an emperor urushi as well and it is easily my favorite pen. I have a mt. Fuji medium nib and it writes a little finer than a montblanc fine. It really is amazing how comfortable the pen is to hold, the design is flawless IMO.

[georges zaslavsky]

Tried a pre 2003 made emperor and a 2012 made emperor, without any hesitation the 2003 emperor was a better writer than the 2012 emperor, but I don't see paying myself 2200€ for just an urushi pen that has a very dry not flexible nib unless I find a 2003 model in second hand. Even a danitrio densho or genkai are cheaper and better alternatives today than the namiki emperor.

Edited July 21, 2013 by georges zaslavsky

[Sblakers]

Hey Georges , how can you tell which year the emperor is. I'm not sure what year mine is it has the mt Fuji nib but its got very nice spring and a very wet nib. Its really a quite fantastic writer. And 2200 euro is quite expensive ill admit. also my pen is the solid red with no rings

[georges zaslavsky]

Hey Georges , how can you tell which year the emperor is. I'm not sure what year mine is it has the mt Fuji nib but its got very nice spring and a very wet nib. Its really a quite fantastic writer. And 2200 euro is quite expensive ill admit. also my pen is the solid red with no rings

The older emperor nibs didn't have the Mt Fuji nib and were more flexible than the newer ones. 2250€ is what costs a new Emperor at Mora http://morastylos.com/stylos/neufs/namiki/plume/empereur-vermillon.html

and costs 1600$ at Mottishaw http://www.nibs.com/NamikiEmperorVermilion.htm

[Sblakers]

Thanks Georges