Nakaya pens have been a popular topic on Pentrace since introduced a few years ago by Russ Stutler on Pentrace East.

The Nakaya theme is “For Your Hand Only” as Nakaya produces hand made pens from hand shaping of hard rubber to decoration and the final shaping of the nib choice exactly to the owner’s writing hand. More than a few Pentracers have actually visited Nakaya offices in Tokyo, Japan in their travels and provided us with their interesting reports. Pentrace appreciates the support from Mr. Toshiya Nakata, President of Nakaya and we look forward to their announcements of their newest products.

Visit the reports and articles listed below to see the Nakaya team at home and while visiting the Chicago and Washington, DC Pen Show in recent years.

The Nakaya Team includes Mr. Sadao Watanabe, Nib Master, Mr. Kohsuke Matsubara, Lathe Master hand making hard rubber pens and Mr. Shinichi Yoshida is Product Designer who creates new pens and accessories.

Nakaya Fountain Pen Co.

http://www.nakaya.org/eindex.html

Nakaya visit the 2004 Chicago Pen Show Chicago Pen Show

http://www.pentrace.net/penbase/Data_Returns/full_article.asp?id=444

Snooping around the Nakaya Fountain Pen Company (and spying out new products)
Written by Russ Stutler October 2003

http://www.pentrace.net/east/nakaya_visit_2/index.html

A Visit to the Nakaya Fountain Pen Company
Written by Russ Stutler July, 2003

http://www.pentrace.net/east/nakaya_visit/index.html

My Big Adventure with a Nakaya Fountain Pen
Written by Russ Stutler

http://www.pentrace.net/east/nakaya/index.html

A visit with two Japanese maki-e artists
Photos by Russ Stutler and Nahomi Noritsuke
Article by Russ Stutler

http://www.pentrace.net/penbase/Data_Returns/full_article.asp?ID=194

A Special Product from the Urushi Tree
By Fred Whitlock

http://www.pentrace.net/penbase/Data_Returns/full_article.asp?id=354

The Nakaya Urushi Wajima-nuri –Tamenuri
Adam Frank, Fran DeRespinis and Len Provisor

http://www.pentrace.net/penbase/Data_Returns/full_article.asp?id=348

from an article by Trevor Butterworth
If the market abhors a vacuum, the search for nib nirvana led to an unlikely success story. One day in 2002, at a pen fair in Tokyo, an American-born graphic artist named Russ Stutler stopped by the booth of a struggling little Japanese pen company called Nakaya, run by Toshiya Nakata, the 41-year-old grandson of the founder of Platinum, one of Japan's oldest fountain pen companies.

In 1999, Nakata deliberately created the world's most inefficient pen company to employ two of Platinum's top retired master craftsmen, Sadeo Watanabe and Kohsuke Matsubara. Their mission: to create tailor-made pens, with no compromise on quality. The customer would simply soak up the expense - as well as the month or so it took to make his or her pen.
Intrigued, Stutler bought a finished display model, and then watched as Watanabe adjusted the pen to the way he wrote. On a whim, Stutler asked if he could add some flex to the 14-carat gold nib. Watanabe complied. Stutler was deeply impressed, and as a contributor to Pentrace, an international English-language fountain pen website based in Ireland, he wrote about the experience. Soon the site's message boards were flooded.

" When Russ talked of total hand production, it had a lot of appeal to limited-edition collectors, especially given the very reasonable prices," explains Len Provisor, the Chicago-based director of advertising and marketing at Pentrace. "But the greatest appeal was being able to produce a nib to a customer's individual specifications. No other company goes to such trouble. "

By 2003, Watanabe and Matsubara were working seven days a week to meet international demand. Nakata had to hire three part-time workers to handle sales. The most popular models proved to be the most distinctively Japanese - those decorated in layers of opaque and translucent lacquer, known as Wajima Urushi, which sold for between $335 and $540.
More elaborate designs - such as scenes from Japanese or Chinese mythology - can leave little change out of $10,000. When the Nakaya staff visited the world's two largest annual fountain pen shows in 2004 - Chicago and Washington DC - they sold out of all their stock in a matter of hours.

To say that Nakata and his staff were amazed at the reaction to their pens (and the turnaround in their fortunes) is something of an understatement, particularly as Nakata admits to not even thinking about using the internet to reach out to enthusiasts. He didn't really know that there were websites devoted to the subject of fountain pens and his own company site is far from advanced.

But the thing is, stylophiles don't really care: Nakaya was a step back in time - and that meant a step closer to perfection.

Trevor Butterworth is an Irish writer based in Washington DC. He is a regular contributor to the Financial Times Magazine, and he has written for The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Salon, and other publications. He has, literally, been an ink-stained wretch since the age of eight.
This article originally appeared in issue 104 of the FTmagazine, May 7 2005.
© 2005 Trevor Butterworth

Platinum had its beginnings in 1919 when Shunichi Nakata opened a pen shop in Okayama prefecture. Five years later he moved to Tokyo and formed the company Nakaya Seisakusho. Later the name of the company was changed to Platinum Pen Company. It is still located in Tokyo, and the current president is Toshihiro Nakata, son of the founder.

Recently the Nakaya name has also been revived by Toshiya Nakata, grandson of the founder. The Nakaya Pen Company employs retired craftsmen from Platinum who specialize in handmade fountain pens.