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I ordered this pen in September, directly from Nakaya, and it arrived at the beginning of this month. This year has been crazy and hectic, so I haven't had a chance to post much, but I wanted to share some photos of this, one of my grail pens. Hopefully I'll get more time to post some more photos and reviews of some new pens! I asked that it be fitted with a rhodium plated Soft Fine nib; it's stiffer than the unplated SFs that I have on some other Nakayas, but still gives some line variation and feels very nice while I'm writing. The color is exactly what I was hoping for - a deep, almost-black broken by blue-green along the facets of the decapod. It reminds me of waves in the Gulf of Mexico under moonlight.

My new DaniTrio-made Regina Martini Special Edition, the spider snaring the dragonfly: (forgive my primitive picture-taking skills) Apparently the first layer of urushi is over inlaid abalone and eggshell. It is then set aside for awhile and then re-coated several dozen times. Only 50 of these were made. The nib is a medium soft 18 k gold and platinum Martini signature, so probably Bock-made. It writes wonderfully smooth. The spider legs ensnare the dragonfly when twisted closed. The eyes are rubies. And always worth a west coast trip, a new Nakaya Decapod. This is my second Nakaya, having picked up a portable writer when John et al came to the DC show, but they said that the east coast trip was getting to be too much, so I ended up going out to them! And a long time desired Pel M1000, with an OB nib which lays a beautiful line of Edelstein ink. These are all beautiful writers and I had plenty of time to try them since I shopped from Thursday on. Wheeled and dealt 9 of my 11 pens that I brought with me. And some time to see a sight or two: Manhattan Beach Pier and Nature House: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to visit the full Giacometti sculpture display (no photos allowed of that) and exhibited nearby, a 19th c. Congressional desk: And time for a latte at the LACMA cafe -- I love L.A.! Thank you Randy Newman! Thanks for looking!

My Nakaya Decapod in Heki-tamenuri and my Naka-ai in Aka-tamenuri are beautiful to look at and a delight to write with. They have just one little problem: They don’t work really well as everyday carries. I carry my pens in a shirt breast pocket, and many of my shirt pockets are shallow enough that my Nakayas stick way up out of them. This may be an imaginary problem, but it makes me concerned about their security. I’d been thinking about getting a Nakaya Piccolo for a while. I was sure it would fit securely in my shirt pockets, but I thought it might be too short to be comfortable writing. I had held one briefly at the San Francisco Pen Show in 2012, and I remembered it seeming borderline too small for my hand. But then … See, I knew I wanted to get another Naka-ai, one in unpolished Shu. So, wandering the CFP web site in the process of ordering the Naka-ai, looking at other finishes and other models, I came across photos of a Piccolo in polished Shu. It’s funny how some combinations of shape and finish seem just perfect. Well, that’s how it was with the Piccolo in Shu. I ordered one with a BB nib and had John grind it to a 0.7 mm crisp cursive italic, my preferred everyday writing nib. There are many reviews of the Nakaya Piccolo on FPN, although none of one in Shu that I found. I have nothing to add on the objective side. Subjectively, the pen is more handsome in person than in the photos, and the size works for me better than expected, both in the pocket and in the hand. But enough of that. Here are some photos: I'm lovin' it! David

It took 10 months but finally my first Nakaya arrived today. It is a portable cigar, Kuro-tamenuri with a soft medium nib and a snake roller stopper. At least that was what I ordered from John Mottisshaw. It rests here on my desk, still unopened in the box. I have not yet decided if I should open it now or put it under the christmas tree and wait until next week. What would you do?

Hello, I'm going to tell *lightly* my experiences with Nakaya and why I would encourage you to NOT buy from them at all. First, some keynotes: I'm from Spain I order to a USA retailer 'cause there's no retailer on Europe, only sellers I paid 1,200 USD for the penNow, on the issues I ran with Nakaya (without the ones I ran with the seller): 5-october-2012, the order is sent to Nakaya 26-march-2013, (five months and three weeks later), Nakaya replies they won't sell me because "English is not my native language" (sic) and that I have to look for a "retailer in my *country*" 27-march-2013, the USA retailer, after my response with a "WTH where they doing all this time" and "this' just sick" and alike is able to make Nakaya to move along with the order on 1st April (bad day). 23-april-2013, (six months and three weeks), I receive my FPN just to discover that the "kimono" (sac) is defective (lost the plastic locker overnight) and the pen had a chip in the lacquer. So, I had to return it. 8-may-2013, the USA retailer get the pen, revise and send it back to Nakaya No information from Nakaya during the following six months (no one knows if they got the pen or if it was lost, no communication whatsoever) 11-november-2013, (one year, one month and one week) the USA retailer tells me they received the pen in the shop. 21-november-2013, I got the pen back to realize that it's a FRANKENPEN. Why do I know this? Because the FPN is engraved and the engravings of the barrel *do NOT* match the ones in the section. So I send it back to the seller with the note: "if you can't fix it I won't wait another five months to discover another issue". They replied directly with a refund so I guess they couldn't fix it there.Conclusions (apart from the loses of the seller itself): I had to pay 296,22EUR [401,29USD] in Customs (which now I'm asking to get a refund) I had to pay another 23,17EUR [31,39USD] in Customs because the seller, instead of declaring value ZERO (because it was a defective product) they declared 33USD (now I'm asking for 4th time Customs to return me the ilegal costs) I had to pay two shipments to USA (~40USD) I paid +1,200USD (there were another products) for: 1 shipment of two defective products ("kimono" and FP), 1 shipment of one defective product (frankenpen) and 1 year, 1 month and 2 weeks of wasted time.So, I do truly encourage people to not buy any product from Nakaya, because, apart from denying selling because my native lang is not English, because of the NULL PR, because of the awful QC: The lacquer is, well, lacquer after all. My Kuretake feeling is just exactly the same and it's thousands cheaper. The nib is, well, a modern one and not a good one *at all* The engravings are a masterpiece, no doubt. But for 1,200 USD you can contact any other independent creator to engrave you whatever you want.So, Nakaya has nothing to offer over other creators and much to lose. Sincerely, Franz

Has anyone ever seen a Nakaya Kuro, Aka, Heki, Shiro-tamenuri (black-red, reddish-red, brown-green, white) side by side pic? If so, please share. I realize that the beauty of the urushi finish results in variability, but I believe a side by side picture of 3 or 4 of the colors with the same lighting would be helpful.

I spent a few months looking for a molded leather pen case in order to carry one of my Nakayas with me in my bag. The silk Kimonos that come with the Nakayas are cute, but don't make for the most protective case. I searched the internet and found a couple of cases that fit my idea, but they were available in Japan only, had a waiting list of up to a year and cost about $400 USD (yikes). Much of what is available online is the basic flap fold-over design. It's a basic leather sock, some are quite floppy and, for the price, don't seem worth it to me. After looking for a long time, I decided to approach a leather maker to see if someone would make me what I was after. Because I was after a hard molded case, I approached makers of leather sheaths for knives. Not many of them care about fountain pens, and a few outright refused to do it. So I moved on. I finally found a custom leather maker whose stuff I came across while looking at examples. He hadn't done a pen case, but he had worked on a variety of leather projects and his molded leather examples were beautiful. Dave Hauser at Dragonthorn Leatherworks really jumped on the chance to design a protective pen case. It turns out he also loves fountain pens. He developed a novel idea, using kydex sandwiched between two layers of leather. Nice natural veg tanned leather outside and soft natural calf leather inside. I'm not sure how he did it, but you cannot tell that there is a hard molded layer of kydex in between the layers. The kydex is a material used to make gun holsters and knife sheaths. It is super light, hard and practically indestructible; and it holds its shape once it is molded. Here are the photos. This is still brand new, the colour will develop over time until it looks like my notebook (which started out looking the same as the case).

Hello all, I've just hit a small windfall and am looking to purchase some Nakaya pens with the proceeds. Specifically I'm looking at getting three long cigar models in various finishes. What I need some help on is some reference to the character of Nakaya's fine nibs. Currently my first and only fountain pen is a Pilot Custom 823 with a fine nib that is mostly smooth with just a touch of feedback and moderate flow; and that is my frame of reference. I was hoping for some comparisons between the Pilot #15 f nib I have and the Nakaya fine, extra fine, and soft fine nibs. Any help would be most appreciated.

Hi, Just got the birthday present for my wife. A Nakaya Dorsal Fin II in Aka Tamenuri. Hope she'll like it..:-) Nib is a Mottishaw cursive italic, cut from B. Will post a review after her birthday.. Here are some iPhone pics I took today. Will post better pics soon

Red isn't normally my color, but a couple of years ago I had the opportunity to try a Portable Cigar in unpolished shu and fell in love with the finish. Determined to have one of my very own, I worked with Classic Fountain Pens and special ordered a 17mm Portable Cigar. After eight months of waiting, here is the result: The nib is a double broad that John Mottishaw modified to a 0.8mm smooth cursive italic. The unpolished shu finish is difficult to capture in photographs. Under incandescent lighting the color is brick red with a tinge of orange. Under natural or fluorescent lighting it appears to be a pure deep red color. It has plenty of shine, but is a bit less glossy than the standard Nakaya finishes. This gives the pen a slightly more tactile feel and also makes it less prone to showing fingerprints than the other finishes. All in all, it is a simple and elegant pen that I like very much. This pen completes the range of Nakaya finishes and nib sizes that I was seeking to acquire. At this point, I'm satisfied with my collection and don't plan to purchase any more pens for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, I thought I'd include a family portrait of all my Nakayas along with a sample from the various nibs. From left to right, the pens are: Long Cigar - custom color (oitake iro - old bamboo) with ishime section and a 0.9mm smooth cursive italic Neo Standard - heki tamenuri with a 0.7mm stub Neo Standard - kuro tamenuri with a 0.6mm stub Portable Writier - black with an unmodified soft medium 17mm Portable Cigar - aka tamenuri with a music nib modified to a smooth cursive italic 17mm Porrtable Cigar - unpolished shu with a 0.8mm smooth cursive italic

Hello there. I just ordered a cuple of Nakayas from nibs.com, after weeks of consideration. 1. Ao-tamenuri decapod twist, without clip (rhodium nib) 2. Heki-tamenuri decapod, with clip (gold nib and clip) I just wanted to ask those who already have the Ao-tamenuri. Pictures on Nakaya's website and John's website show a more blue-turquoise colour and most pictures I have seen online closely resemble that. However, I visited the Honorable Leigh Reyes' blog (http://www.leighreyes.com) and was quite surprise that her ao-tamenuri was actually on the brighter side of green compared to that of the Honorable Quinden (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/248115-nakaya-ao-tamenuri-decapod-twist-its-here/) which I thought showed much closer resemblance to the advertised depiction. As much as light green is a beautiful colour, it just doesn't do it for me and I think I will be quite disappointed if my pen arrives in that colour. I have asked nibs.com to advise the Nakaya of my expectations but I am not so sure whether such processes can be controlled. I mean What I am merely asking is the pen not to be light green! I realise that the pen can show different depth of colour and the appearance may depend on the camera angle, light etc, but within reason, to me what is clearly light green is light green and what is blue-green at heart is blue green. If you have these pens would you be able to show us your pen or advise of your experience? Thank you!

Dear members, I am a FPN noobie, and also in many respects a fountain pen noobie, so please guide me or correct me if you don't see any of what I write fit. I have always liked Japanese pens but unfortunately only recently have I really started buying more of them. Nakaya brand has now totally fascinated me so I made an initial order- nothing special- just a piccolo in kyoki. In terms of personalising the pen or adding 'spice to it' I could not be to imainative. Inspired by one of the members here I've asked them to imprint or makienise a Chinese character on the upper grip section of the pen. I tried searching the web to see what other people do or did but only limited information was available. So would you please help me and other more inexperienced Nakaya fans to be more creative by sharing your treasures and showing your personal touch to the pen? Thank you in advance.

Hi everyone! I'm hoping to have a review of the Nakaya titanium Piccolo up sometime this weekend; until then, here's a shot of the pen with a writing sample from my Instagram feed. Note the stubbed tip - you can see a small amount of gold where John (Mottishaw) ground off a bit of the ruthenium plating to create the stub. It's an amazing writer!

So, I have this Nakaya Piccolo, new to me, in Kuro-tamenuri, and I have been thinking that it would be nice to have an ink to match the finish. Something black with red overtones. Diamine Oxblood has a good red tone, but of course it isn't black. Not sure if it is safe to mix it with a Diamine black of some sort to create a custom color. Perhaps there are some good black-red inks out there already, besides Noodlers? Any experiences or suggestions? :-)

My friend John is a photographer and asked me if he could borrow a few fountain pens to shoot for his portfolio. I think he did a great job. http://static.squarespace.com/static/51c300c1e4b034c963afc8b8/t/51c48c43e4b0c5a944a39daa/1371835461423/20%20-%20Pennor0564.jpg Pilot Capless, TWSBI Diamond 540, Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo ink, Pilot Custom, Pilot MYU BS-500. http://static.squarespace.com/static/51c300c1e4b034c963afc8b8/t/51c48c2ce4b09ee48eb671cd/1371835437733/20%20-%20Pennor0531.jpg Montblanc Meisterstück 149, Waterman Carène, custom Nakaya, Iroshizuku Chiku-rin and Tsutsuji ink. Photos taken from my blog post. (Translated with Google.)

One good Housuge Shu deserves another! (I'm looking at you, alvarez57) I think I fell in love with this pen when I saw the Cigar (clipless) model of Leigh Reyes - if you have never gone to her site, you should! She has amazing artistic skills, as well as great penmanship. To achieve this look, the artisan carves into the urushi surface, and then rubs a mixture of urushi + charcoal (sumi) over the surface. Once they remove the sumi from the surface, it stays in the carvings. I chose a soft fine for this pen, and it is amazing! It is softer than the other two soft fines I have, but I would still rate it as less flexible than a vintage flexer (the only one I have is a Waterman's 0552 1/2 V). In the above, you can see the similarity of the base color of the Housuge Shu to the unpolished Shu (Shu-nurippanashi). A rough and amateurish size comparison with a Parker Duofold Centennial - the Housuge Shu is shorter, but I believe the grip section is ever-so-slightly wider (.41 inches to .4 inches, according to nibs.com). The Nakaya is also lighter. Here's a writing sample. I purchased this pen from John Mottishaw & company, and I'm very happy! It's smooth and responsive. Looking at this writing sample, I wish I had refrained from that third cup of coffee this morning http://fpgeeks.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.png

So it arrived today !!! I had a BB nib in it but there was no love loss as it was just to plain for me... and I need an expressive nib to make my poor handwriting look legible... So here she is fresh of John Mottishaws table. A Nakaya Neo Standard in Heki-tamenuri finish with a Medium soft "elastic" nib. http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/thevaporcafe/A4CE23BE-59D7-4DD4-9CB2-D8F58A170430-443-0000001D8C5CE3F1_zpscf63d721.jpg http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/thevaporcafe/6207362B-B9CF-4796-B176-7BC06D090DA6-443-0000001D91F63AA0_zps5779e8d3.jpg http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/thevaporcafe/025592B5-4D8E-44E8-A1EB-6612B6D0E96C-443-0000001D97447652_zpsd34f5f2e.jpg http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/thevaporcafe/09C191C1-73AD-455F-92B0-A61B440A58E5-443-0000001D9C9A219A_zps6b41c315.jpg http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/thevaporcafe/1E836B9D-FB87-4B46-8D2B-F1066B0D145A-443-0000001DA1EE52AF_zps5a34d165.jpg http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/thevaporcafe/93799223-8749-4B7D-8025-9A11696BF55A-443-0000001DA6F1BE1E_zps3560d263.jpg http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/thevaporcafe/9F333FFA-999F-40C7-93AA-7DB20B7B4B72-443-0000001DABFE7FDB_zps7e4367a7.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3674/8905954095_00c1133a61_n.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3710/8905953879_34f1f2abd0.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7412/8905953703_50280e5f3f.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/8906574264_0259352753_n.jpg David

I was told by Classic FP that Nakaya will no longer produce ishime Decapods. I happen to love the stone finish and really like the mini-decapod, I keep selling them and replacing them. They still have some in stock if any of you want one, get it now. I ordered an identical twin to the pen I have so (gasp) if something happens I still have one. Just an FYI if anyone was looking. Cheers!