Nakaya Fountain pens

[The_Beginner]

A Lot of people have been buzzing about this brand but i've never heard of it anyone have personal experience with it?

[MHBru]

Yup.. I have two of them and they are beautiful works of art.  They do not perform any better than a Pelikan m800, however.  Don’t get me wrong, they are very nice pens and you’ll never regret owning one if you can swing it.  If I had to keep only one of my pens for the rest of my life, it would be a Pelikan m800, tho. 

[The_Beginner]

i see thank you MHBru

[whichwatch]

I have been a long time collector of Nakaya and own well over 100.  I sell my "extras" at 4 shows per year to raise funds to buy still others.  As you can tell, I find them a bit addictive.

 

I have found the quality to be excellent on both the basic urushi models as well as the special artwork pieces in maki-e, tamesukashi, etc.  Nibs tend to be very stiff and write with some feedback, so if you like those qualities (as I do), you'll like Nakaya nibs.

 

They are just now getting back into production following the devastating earthquake in Japan, so dealer stocks are still quite low at this time if you can find them at all, but hopefully that will improve in the near future as they get back up to speed, even though some of their most popular models such as Dorsal Fins and Decapods have been classified as "lower priorities" by Nakaya.

[PAKMAN]

Have one, always wanted one, finally got one, and I love it!  Here is mine Nakaya Aka Namenuri 

 

 

[The_Beginner]

They look so beautiful i saw one online and wasnt sure, due to the price tag and never hearing the name

[lamarax]

Nakaya is to Platinum what Namiki is to Pilot basically: a legacy brand name, geared to marketing luxury hand-made pens. One difference between the two, is that Namiki sport their exclusive style of nibs, while Nakaya share the same exact nibs with Platinum's 3776 line, albeit "ground and tuned to order".

 

I was under the impression that after the Wajima earthquake on 1/1/2024, Nakaya has ceased taking new orders in until further notice. You can still find some NOS lingering at iguanasell in Spain, Sakura fountain pen gallery in Belgium and nibs.com in the US.

[The_Beginner]

1 hour ago, lamarax said:

Nakaya is to Platinum what Namiki is to Pilot basically: a legacy brand name, geared to marketing luxury hand-made pens. One difference between the two, is that Namiki sport their exclusive style of nibs, while Nakaya share the same exact nibs with Platinum's 3776 line, albeit "ground and tuned to order".

 

I was under the impression that after the Wajima earthquake on 1/1/2024, Nakaya has ceased taking new orders in until further notice. You can still find some NOS lingering at iguanasell in Spain, Sakura fountain pen gallery in Belgium and nibs.com in the US.

i see, i saw that they were taking some limited orders on their site for some NOS pens

[Uncial]

I did a review of one that wasn't what was expected. Best to look it up here. 

 

My advice would be to be to think very carefully about the nib. If you have a preference for fine or extra fine then the nib will give very significant feedback. They also provide a flexible nib (sometimes called different things by different resellers, which is very confusing) and a nib that has 'bounce' but no flexibility (I'm afraid I can't remember what it is called). Both can be extremely sharp; literally to the point of catching the paper and causing the nib to 'judder'. Im honestly not sure how you are meant to write with these nibs as I write with a very light hand. Coated papers do help, but this limits the pens use. The tipping is also very small, making smoothing a little risky. In the end I bought a broad and had someone smooth it. Before smoothing it was like writing on fine grit sandpaper. Some people seem to like that, as you can see!

[Mechanical]

On 10/18/2024 at 7:44 AM, PAKMAN said:

Have one, always wanted one, finally got one, and I love it!  Here is mine Nakaya Aka Namenuri 

 

 

 

What a beauty!  May I ask, what size nib did you get… and how does it write for you?

[nm4]

I have and cherish a Nakaya…but the writing experience with their pens is nearly identical to the Platinum 3776.  I think one should try writing with the same size 3776 before buying a Nakaya.  I was lucky enough to try an SF, a medium, and a music nib in a dept store in Japan.  The SM was my choice.  
 

I don’t mind the feedback on medium / fine / extra fine nibs since it lets me control my writing….but on the broad or music nibs I prefer no feedback a la Pelikan or MB (there’s just too much feedback with the Nakaya/Platinum in those sizes - and that’s coming from a 3776 music nib owner). 
 

N

 

 

 

[MHBru]

@PAKMAN that’s a beautiful pen!