Fountain pens: Sailor Oita Made Wancher Japan Red – Japan Blue Series

One year on and I am still just as enthusiastic about my newly acquired fountain pen hobby. The almost infinite material configurations of pen, ink and paper make writing a thoroughly enjoyable and aesthetic experience, more subtle and more embodied than the combination of keyboard and screen.

I have recently discovered further information about the Sailor Oita Made Wancher Japan Red from the Japan Blue Series, 21K gold nib pen I mentioned in an earlier post. The pen is a lovely combination of creative technology, art, expertise and the contemporary transformation of longstanding cultural traditions. I have copied this information below:

A few extracts from the Oita Made site, translation from Japanese courtesy of Google Translate:

“What if we could dye metal with indigo, a traditional Japanese dye…?” A casual comment from an employee at Nagao Seisakusho in Saiki City started a project aimed at trying something that was the first of its kind in Japan. Nagao Seisakusho is a manufacturing company that specializes in precision sheet metal processing. In addition to manufacturing parts for semiconductor and liquid crystal manufacturing equipment and railroad cars, the company also manufactures and processes a large number of custom-made products to meet customer needs. […] They decided to tackle the task of “coloring metal with natural indigo,” which was previously thought to be almost impossible.
[…]

Oita Made met Nagao Seisakusho shortly after establishing its own method for mass production. The moment they saw the beautiful metal dyed in indigo, they thought of developing a product using it. If anything, they wanted an item that they could carry around with them at all times and feel close to Japan’s excellent technology and tradition. What’s more, it should bring a special sense of exhilaration just by holding it… Thus began the planning and development of a high-quality fountain pen dyed with natural indigo.

For the production of Japan’s first fountain pen, Wancher, a company in Oita Prefecture that manufactures and sells its own brand of stationery, provided development support, while Sailor Fountain Pen, one of Japan’s leading stationery manufacturers, handled the manufacturing. Sailor Fountain Pen, whose main factory is in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, is a long-established company that has led the Japanese writing implement industry for over 100 years.

[…]
The surface is decorated with a fine hammered pattern reminiscent of the tsuba (guard) of a Japanese sword, pursuing a Japanese texture.

From the Wancher website (originally in English)

For JAPAN RED, Purple Red is a traditional dye that is much loved throughout Japan’s history. In fact, until now, you can still observe this shade in textiles, preserved in heritage sites such as Horyuji Temple or The Shosoin Repository – The Imperial Household Agency.