Kamakura-Bori Pens

[chris burton]

A little while back, over on Pentrace, someone posted a pic of some Kamakura-bori pens. I made a mental note to post a pic of my mini-collection.

 

On the left is a pen from the 1920's (I believe). The middle three all date from the 1950's. Fourth from the left is an SSS. On the right is relatively modern example. It was probably made about nine or ten years ago and is a Ban-Ei.

 

 

 

If anyone knows where I could source a clip, or multiple clips, similar to the ones on these pens, please pm or email me.

 

thanks,

Edited March 17, 2013 by chris burton

[iamchum]

wooow where abouts can you procure one of these?

[chris burton]

 

 

wooow where abouts can you procure one of these?

The Ban-ei was purchased from Ray at Woon n Dreams in 2004 or 2005. They were a small run of either 150 or 200 pieces per pen. There were five different pens. I don't remember where the all black pen came from. I'd say Pentrace Green Board, or a member over there, in 2006. Again, probably in 2006 or so.

[mchenart]

Chris, your pen on the far right is indeed a Ban-ei, as indicated by the Kanji on the cap ring. If you see an edition number on the other side of the ring, it would be one of 150 such pens commissioned by Danitrio.

 

I was the one who posted the pictures of the Kamakura-boris on Pentrace a while back. Although I have four already, I am still looking for a Danitrio or similarly sized Kamakura-bori .

 

Michael

[AltecGreen]

Here's one for sale on eBay. Heh Heh Heh....

[Painterspal]

Wonderful picture of some fabulous pens. I'd love to have an example of this finish but they're sooooo hard to find at a reasonable price. I'm surprised that more modern makers don't make them as they're very eye-catching.

[chris burton]

Chris, your pen on the far right is indeed a Ban-ei, as indicated by the Kanji on the cap ring. If you see an edition number on the other side of the ring, it would be one of 150 such pens commissioned by Danitrio.

 

I was the one who posted the pictures of the Kamakura-boris on Pentrace a while back. Although I have four already, I am still looking for a Danitrio or similarly sized Kamakura-bori .

 

Michael

 

Hi Michael,

 

Yes, it's 064/200. I used to have two of the others, but sold them when my wife and I bought our first house. One was the Nishiji-nuri and the other was the smaller of the bunch, which I believe was Tamenuri (red). I wish that I'd have hung onto them.

 

 

[stan]

Chris.

 

Sorry for not responding to your email.

 

As to a source for clips, none exists. You might try Euro-Box (Eizo Fujii). He may know someone in Japan who repairs pens or is a collector with spare parts. I used to have lots of spare everything and unloaded it to years ago. The clips if any, would have come with the caps. My suggestion is for you to go to Yahoo Japan and look for old 'beaters' to salvage the caps. Even they have become harder to find.

 

If you go this route, be aware there are different designs for the portion of the clip that fits inside of the pen. In the West we commonly expect a 'Z' shaped clip. They exist as do others that screw into the bottom of the inside of the top of the cap. To retrieve the clip you will likely need to destroy the cap as old cap linings are extremely difficult to remove. That raises the net issue. Are you planning to replace a broken clip. If so, have you taken out the cap liner? And, do you know the exact profile of clip needed for that pen?

 

Thank you for mentioning my name as the source of the pens. Over the past thirteen years I may have sold 12-15 kamakura bori of various designs. The models with the diagonal pattern of carvings are the most common. Ones with a square or tartan design grid or those with the diagonal pattern and a pattern without some of the carvings are far rarer. Of the major manufacturers, as best I know, only Platinum made a kamakura bori. They made it for the department store Mitsukoshi. Here's one I photographed for my sadly not updated in a long time website.

 

http://ryojusen-pens.com/resources/_wsb_492x414_Bori+Diagonal+1.jpg

 

Regarding the pen on ebay, it is priced far too high in the hope of snagging a buyer with limited exposure to Japanese pens who thinks a kamakura bori somehting unique of simply 'wants' one an has the money to burn. PT knew they were out there.

 

Chris. Dating of vintage Japanese pens is not always easy. I sincerely doubt your pen is from the 1920s. Depending on the type of feed (and, assuming it to be original) and the shape of the section, one can place a pen in the early or later 1930s. 1920s too if your pen is from that time frame. Clip design is a factor too, although the basic design remained the same before and after the war. I would need more photographs to do a better job.

 

The history of the banei remains unclear. I know they were not made for Danitrio, as many examples were sold on Yahoo Japan at least a year before Kevin offered any through Danitrio. Occasionally, they can still be found. One needs to spend an hour or so daily looking through the upcoming sales and they are not always listed under mannenhiitsu - using the Japanese characters or translation software provided through shoppingmalljapan or the like.

 

Sorry that I cannot help with the clips. I am also looking for two at this time. If anyone wants to ask questions about kamakura bori or other vintage Japanese pen, please write.

[mchenart]

For the sake of easy reference in the future, I would like to post pictures of my two 'checkerboard' patterned Kamakura-boris. I have noticed that, with this pattern, at least three different coloured coatings of urushi were used, giving an interesting effect of rings within rings. Needless to say, this is a more labour intensive design that requires immense concentration on the part of the artisan as well.

 

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae33/mchenart/checkerboard_zpsdd4e3fa4.jpg

 

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae33/mchenart/KamakuraBori1-2_zps049dc8de.jpg

[raivtash]

Chris, can you show me the nib of the SSS pen? I got a highly similar pen which was sold to me as tsuchida/ban-ei but I doubt it was. I will post pics of my pen soon.

[penwash]

Reviving a post from long ago to contribute this:

 

 

I recently acquired this Kamakura Bori pen with an interesting pattern that looks like checkerboard alternating between plain Urushi and four chiseled "squares".

Edited November 29, 2017 by penwash

[zaddick]

Beautiful Penwash. Thanks for sharing.

[hellokloh]

Oh wow... that's gorgeous!

[jar]

Beautiful pen.

[pendwarf]

Wow. That is beautiful (the last one, but also the pens in the OP).

[penwash]

Thanks all for chiming in. That pen is pretty worn out, but in that state, it actually looks very cool and beautiful. I guess that's what the Wabi-Sabi aesthetics is about.