Show Your Namiki - Fans' Thread

[rhk]

My Namiki's: from left to right Yukari Royale in black usushi, Yukari Royale fall flowers, Yukari Royale Kingfisher, Nioh (it is a Pilot pen so it should not be there),  then Yukari flower fence, and Emperor goldfish. 

 

[Maki-eMagic]

I'm a big fan of the YR Kingfisher and of course the Goldfish - you've the valve open a few turns there, is it inked? I had the opportunity recently to do a detailed examination of two of these Goldfish pens, one of which was mine, just to get a feel for the sample variation for a pen at this level. It was quite interesting seeing different parts of the image raised more or less in each pen, some variation in texture. At some point I'll get around to writing it all up but its in the middle of a very long to-do list!

[Linger]

Wow. That is some collection. Very, very cool Ruud, compliments.

[larsm]

6 hours ago, rhk said:

My Namiki's: from left to right Yukari Royale in black usushi, Yukari Royale fall flowers, Yukari Royale Kingfisher, Nioh (it is a Pilot pen so it should not be there),  then Yukari flower fence, and Emperor goldfish. 

 

Ruud, I am speechless!! Some serious pens you have there - love the YR's   btw are you Dutch too? I spent my first years of my life in Utrecht. 

 

Cheers,

Lars

[Nurmister]

On 12/7/2020 at 11:57 PM, MoriartyR said:

Hahaha. I must admit I was also looking seriously at a vermillion Yukari Royale “pen perfection” for Black Friday to go with my black. I held back in the end - too many pens and couldn’t justify doubling-up on a pen I tend to save for special occasions. It’s so beautiful, though and I know I will cave some day.

 

Your Namiki pen display looks stunning. I envy it very much.

 

 

That's a wonderful pair. Which do you prefer, in terms of smoothness and nib characteristics? And are the sizes Japanese F and M, or are they closer to Western sizing?

 

Thanks in advance; it's rather expensive to gain insight into these pens first-hand!

[Linger]

They are Japanese sized - although not so extreme as Nakaya - so smaller than European nibs. Both are  nice and smooth with a rich flow. I use the F most on my tomoe river paper, and the M most on rhodia, although all is interchangeable obviously. Can’t say i have a preference - am happy with both.

[Nurmister]

2 hours ago, Linger said:

They are Japanese sized - although not so extreme as Nakaya - so smaller than European nibs. Both are  nice and smooth with a rich flow. I use the F most on my tomoe river paper, and the M most on rhodia, although all is interchangeable obviously. Can’t say i have a preference - am happy with both.

 

Thanks a lot for this. I've heard these nibs have a tiny bit more feedback than, say, Pilot VP nibs, and so I'll probably go for a medium.

[Linger]

I can’t compare with the Pilot VP nibs, but I do have a Pilot 823 in M and a 845 in M. I prefer the Namiki’s, they have a bit more “personality” than the Pilots. Especially the 823 is “boringly perfect” it glides effortlessly over the glassy rhodia paper. The Namiki’s let you comfortably know that they are there for you. Plus, all else on the pen is p e r f e c t, dimensions, weight, color, design, appearance. For me, it is THE pen.

[Nurmister]

4 hours ago, Linger said:

I can’t compare with the Pilot VP nibs, but I do have a Pilot 823 in M and a 845 in M. I prefer the Namiki’s, they have a bit more “personality” than the Pilots. Especially the 823 is “boringly perfect” it glides effortlessly over the glassy rhodia paper. The Namiki’s let you comfortably know that they are there for you. Plus, all else on the pen is p e r f e c t, dimensions, weight, color, design, appearance. For me, it is THE pen.

 

This is a tempting description, and I will most likely have to try a Namiki in person now. But I think I understand what you mean by "personality".

 

We see this between modern and vintage Montblanc nibs, too: both are as smooth as can be, but there is more communication from the nib concerning the paper, your pressure, the writing angle, speed, and the ink from the older nibs. This increased "resolution" so to speak can make the nib less forgiving to being misused or used hastily, but I think it requires more skill to create such a nib. 

 

Thanks again.

 

Edit: If you happen to have a writing comparison picture of your F and M on hand, I'd really appreciate it.

I've been learning more about Urushi and the Roiro technique in another thread, and am seriously considering selling my Montblancs to buy a no. 20. The no. 50 is great, but it's rather large, and its proportions aren't perfect like the way the no. 20's are. As you said, the design really is incredible. This is probably the first pen I can't really think of anything I'd want to change about. That brass cap lip is sublime.

[Linger]

The fountain pen community is a nice and friendly and helpful one 😜

 

You're welcome!

 

 

[Nurmister]

5 minutes ago, Linger said:

The fountain pen community is a nice and friendly and helpful one 😜

 

You're welcome!

 

 

 

Perfect! This changed my mind -- it's probably a fine for me then. Love your t's.

 

When it soon comes time to use my 15% coupon with Appelboom (who has the best prices seemingly anywhere), I'll make sure to post a picture of the acquisition here. Don't think I can wait for 20% on FPday in November...

[MoriartyR]

I think fine is a good choice. I finally succumbed and bought the vermillion to go with my black. The vermillion has a fine nib and the black is medium. Both are delightfully smooth and feel special to write with. Nurmister’s writing samples match my nibs exactly.

 

I agree entirely with Nurmister’s feeling about the Pilot Custom 823 nib - it is so smooth that it is rather devoid of feeling and it makes writing seem functional but quite soulless. It is a good pen but I don’t really enjoy using it the way I do with other pens. Compared to anything else the Namiki will still feel very smooth.

 

For what it’s worth, I still prefer the black urushi colour. I think the black finish shows more depth - like a bottomless pool of dark water. But both are stunning and perfect. I think the choice is entirely personal, though, and it depends which colour attracts you more.

[Linger]

23 minutes ago, Nurmister said:

 

Love your t's.

 

Now that you mention it...I took a closer look at my t's and see that I wrote them a bit quick...I was thought to write them more "open".

 

Some people adjust their handwriting over time. Stephen Brown for example adjusted his handwriting to incorporate some American cursive - e.g. his letters z and capital i. However, I try to remain loyal to my primary school, and try to stick to those letters and rules, even though I was told much later that we had more than 10 different writing methods in NL when I was growing up...

 

Anyway, this is how I was taught: 

 

 

 

[Nurmister]

1 minute ago, MoriartyR said:

I think fine is a good choice. I finally succumbed and bought the vermillion to go with my black. The vermillion has a fine nib and the black is medium. Both are delightfully smooth and feel special to write with. Nurmister’s writing samples match my nibs exactly.

 

I agree entirely with Nurmister’s feeling about the Pilot Custom 823 nib - it is so smooth that it is rather devoid of feeling and it makes writing seem functional but quite soulless. It is a good pen but I don’t really enjoy using it the way I do with other pens. Compared to anything else the Namiki will still feel very smooth.

 

For what it’s worth, I still prefer the black urushi colour. I think the black finish shows more depth - like a bottomless pool of dark water. But both are stunning and perfect. I think the choice is entirely personal, though, and it depends which colour attracts you more.

 

Thanks for the reinforcing information (though all credit goes to Linger for the writing samples and comments, I don't own one yet!).

 

While vermillion is a signature of Namiki's roiro urushi work, like red soles are Louboutins' calling card,  I think I'll be going for black too. Not only for practicality (so the eventual ink stains on the section, if any, will not show as proudly), but also because there's a certain romance in it. The pen will look like plastic to anyone who doesn't know Namiki, but if you look closer, it is anything but: just like how white gold, with its incredible, subtle golden hue, looks like stainless steel unless you know what you're looking for.

[Nurmister]

7 minutes ago, Linger said:

...

 

I learned cursive in the US, but this is pretty similar except for the differences you mention.. I think this can be considered a modern, streamlined cursive script? I'm currently pushing my cursive to a more classical American style using the book "American cursive handwriting" by Michael Sull. It's pretty without being ornate. Anyway -- pictures of my Namiki to come, soon I hope

[Maki-eMagic]

12 hours ago, Nurmister said:

I've been learning more about Urushi and the Roiro technique in another thread, and am seriously considering selling my Montblancs to buy a no. 20. The no. 50 is great, but it's rather large, and its proportions aren't perfect like the way the no. 20's are. As you said, the design really is incredible. This is probably the first pen I can't really think of anything I'd want to change about. That brass cap lip is sublime.

 

Here you can see a Yukari Royale Pavilion/Pagoda in the middle of this screengrab from a video, on the left is a chinkin which is about Yukari size (albeit the flat cap and barrel ends means it is just a little shorter in length than Yukari which is rounded) - the size difference between the Yukari and Yukari Royale is more in the diameter than the lenght, the Yukari Royale section is considerably longer, and the caps are also similar length. Nib size goes up slightly but not hugely. But you can see both are absolutely dwarfed by the 50 size on the right which has a far larger nib (but similar length section).

 

The Yukari Royale feels like a regular pen after using a 50 before it, although the weights are quite similar as the 50 is ebonite and much lighter than it looks. I'd say in general the Yukari Royale is an excellent sized pen and incredibly well-rounded as a writing instrument, the 50 is different and is pen perfection for some but unwieldy for others. I wrote with this Goldfish 50 for about 2 hours straight yesterday and absolutely love it.

[Nurmister]

5 hours ago, Maki-eMagic said:

 

Here you can see a Yukari Royale Pavilion/Pagoda in the middle of this screengrab from a video, on the left is a chinkin which is about Yukari size (albeit the flat cap and barrel ends means it is just a little shorter in length than Yukari which is rounded) - the size difference between the Yukari and Yukari Royale is more in the diameter than the lenght, the Yukari Royale section is considerably longer, and the caps are also similar length. Nib size goes up slightly but not hugely. But you can see both are absolutely dwarfed by the 50 size on the right which has a far larger nib (but similar length section).

 

The Yukari Royale feels like a regular pen after using a 50 before it, although the weights are quite similar as the 50 is ebonite and much lighter than it looks. I'd say in general the Yukari Royale is an excellent sized pen and incredibly well-rounded as a writing instrument, the 50 is different and is pen perfection for some but unwieldy for others. I wrote with this Goldfish 50 for about 2 hours straight yesterday and absolutely love it.

 

Thank you for the comparison. I've seen good prices for the Yukari (not royale) special models, such as the nightline which I adore -- although I think I want a plain pen as my first Namiki, since I intend to use it daily. I also have large hands so I predict the YR will be a better fit.

 

Looking through your other posts, by any chance, are you the owner of the Youtube channel "Japan's Perfect Pens"?

[Maki-eMagic]

9 hours ago, Nurmister said:

 

Thank you for the comparison. I've seen good prices for the Yukari (not royale) special models, such as the nightline which I adore -- although I think I want a plain pen as my first Namiki, since I intend to use it daily. I also have large hands so I predict the YR will be a better fit.

 

Looking through your other posts, by any chance, are you the owner of the Youtube channel "Japan's Perfect Pens"?

Yes I am, I haven't posted many of the pens here since most of them aren't mine, but two of the pens in that photo at least were! 

[Nurmister]

50 minutes ago, Maki-eMagic said:

Yes I am, I haven't posted many of the pens here since most of them aren't mine, but two of the pens in that photo at least were! 

 

Ahahah I recognized the profile picture and screen grab, I was going through your channel just a few days ago!

 

To get back to Linger's topic, Japan's Perfect Pens often features rare Namiki (Emperor) pens that aren't given much exposure on social media otherwise -- my absolute favorite is the Emperor Nightline, it has the wonderful old style nib!

 

He also describes the Emperor's nib characteristics in detail. I hope to do the same when I purchase the YR, contextualizing it with the performance of the many other pens I have.

 

 

[Maki-eMagic]

26 minutes ago, Nurmister said:

 

Ahahah I recognized the profile picture and screen grab, I was going through your channel just a few days ago!

 

To get back to Linger's topic, Japan's Perfect Pens often features rare Namiki (Emperor) pens that aren't given much exposure on social media otherwise -- my absolute favorite is the Emperor Nightline, it has the wonderful old style nib!

 

He also describes the Emperor's nib characteristics in detail. I hope to do the same when I purchase the YR, contextualizing it with the performance of the many other pens I have.

 

 

I have to say that was a phenomenal pen, I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw it, knowing how hard they are to find. It was the first of this series of shall we say aesthetic reviews - meaning no point in talking for 10 minutes each time about different maki-e techniques for 20++ videos in a row, better to talk about how the design is and how it is different from the others etc. I'll probably redo that one eventually as I'm steadily evolving the way I do them, and I'll bring it a little more in line with the others and make it a bit longer. Glad you like the channel, its a colossal amount of work photographing the pens and compiling the stuff, but its a great opportunity to share stuff that isn't seen much outside of auction listings, and at least I've a whole year of 'leisure time' planned out now putting videos together!