Here is a very rare and a highly sought after pen. The 1960's Pilot Custom in sterling silver with the famous Buddhist Scriptures design. This design is famous for the highly sought after Hyomon Maki-e pens, but these silver scriptures pens are even harder to find.

Two slightly different designs exist for this pen. One design has the scriptures carved into the silver, while the other pen is the opposite: The kanji characters are raised in base relief. The background silver has been antiqued with a deep patina, and the Japanese kanji characters are highly polished, making them appear to float above and around the pen. You simply have to hold the pen in your hand to fully experience this mystical effect.

The really interesting thing about these Buddhist Scriptures pens is that they have been blessed. Pilot had representatives carry these pens into several Buddhist temples in the Tokyo area. Priests would then perform a special ceremony where they would call into the pen a spirit of good fortune.

This ceremony originally developed in Japan for the creation of katana or the Japanese swords. Every sword smith in old Japan would carry his finished sword to a temple and the priest would call in the appropriate spirit. If it were a ceremonial sword, a good fortune spirit would be called; if it were a war sword, then one of the power spirits would be called. Pilot thought that if the pen is mightier than the sword then pens should also receive the same blessing.

The image here is a photograph from 1969, showing the Fountain Pen blessing ceremony. I am aware that most of you can not read Japanese, but the large sign infront of the flowers tells people passing through the temple that the ceremony being performed is for Pilot Fountain pens. The pen illustrated here may very well be one of the same pens pictured on the tables before the priests.

Ron Dutcher has lived in Japan for over 15 years. He is a member of the Tokyo Pen Association, and has learned a great deal from Japanese pen collectors. He sells a great many Japanese pens on ebay under the name Kamakura-Pens, but his true love is for early American pens. He can be contacted at rd@kamakurapens.com