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What is meant by "Tomoe River Paper" exactly?

markofp

By markofp
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markofp Rare

markofp

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I know that sometime ago Tomoe River was a registered trademark for a brand of highly regarded paper, and if I recall correctly the maker of same went out of business.  But I now see a LOT of the stuff, from what appear to be different manufactures.  I get the idea that the name is now up for grabs for anybody who wants to use it.  Is this correct, or is the mark still held by one company?  What exactly qualifies a paper as "Tomoe River"? Is it a set of specifications? Who is Sanzen?  🧐

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A Smug Dill Museum Piece

A Smug Dill

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59 minutes ago, markofp said:

Is this correct,

 

No. Tomoegawa (which is still in business) sold the rights pertaining to the Tomoe River trademark, along with remaining stock of all of its original Tomoe River, to Sanzen in 2021.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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Penguincollector Donor Pen

Penguincollector

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    I don’t know exactly what you’re seeing, but basically notebook manufacturers buy TR paper in bulk from Sanzen, the current producer of the paper. 

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A Smug Dill Museum Piece

A Smug Dill

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7 hours ago, markofp said:

What is meant by "Tomoe River Paper" exactly?

 

I guess you'll have to ask whoever is expressly referring to Tomoe River paper in their communication. It could mean different things, depending on the individual (speaker/writer, not the audience).

 

7 hours ago, markofp said:

What exactly qualifies a paper as "Tomoe River"?

 

If it can legitimately claim to be made and sold by the trademark owner (as of the date it was manufactured).

 

Tomoe River paper itself is not a retail product. Whether a retail product can state on its packaging and/or marketing as Tomoe River paper depends on whether its producer has licence from the trademark owner to do so.

 

Sakae Technical Paper (aka SakaeTP) never made Tomoe River paper, but it had a range of paper products that bore the trademark back when Tomoegawa was the trademark owner and manufacturer of the types of paper therein, and it now has a range of paper products bearing the trademark when Sanzen is the trademark owner and manufacturer of the types of paper therein.

 

I emphasise the plurality in both cases, because even at any particular point in time, Tomoe River paper is not a single homogeneous type. While Tomoegawa was the trademark owner, during which time SakaeTP appeared to have been the only secondary producer granted licence to use the trademark, it made at least five different types of paper that are legitimately “Tomoe River paper”: four (white 52g/m², white 68g/m², cream 52g/m², and cream 68g/m²) made on Tomoegawa's “machine №7”, and one (white 52g/m²) made on its “machine №9”.

 

Aside: SakaeTP had multiple retail products (e.g. A4 size versus A5 size, plain/blank versus pre-printed with a dot grid, loose sheets versus bound notebooks) for some individual types of Tomoegawa's Tomoe River paper.

 

SakaeTP now produces several retail products using Tomoe River paper made by the current trademark owner Sanzen.

 

Even though Hobonichi didn't put the Tomoe River trademark on its retail products, it was well-known that up until 2023, its Techno planner (and “plain” notebook pre-printed with line grids) products used white 52g/m² paper made on Tomoegawa's “machine №7”.

 

So, to which individual retail product, or type of paper, or sub-group of the aforementioned products an individual speaker is referring in a given instance is not something possible to identify or limit by consensus.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

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Number99 Collectors Item

Number99

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Regarding the relationship between Sakae and Tomoegawa.

 

During the period when TOMOEGAWA Paper Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (now TOMOEGAWA Corporation.) manufactured Tomoe River (printing base paper), SAKAE Technical Paper Co., Ltd. Tokyo Branch served as the domestic sales agent for Tomoe River FP (specifically Tomoe River FP, not all Tomoe River products).

And products using Tomoe River FP was a joint project product between Tomoegawa and Sakae.

 

Web archive.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200810074139/https://www.tomoegawa.co.jp/product/paper/tomoe_river_fp.html

 

The translations of each company name were provided by DeepL Translation. 

 

巴川製紙所株式会社。

TOMOEGAWA Paper Manufacturing Co., Ltd. 

 

SAKAEテクニカルペーパー株式会社 東京支店。

SAKAE Technical Paper Co., Ltd. Tokyo Branch.

 

For reference. Tomoe River is a literal translation of “巴川”Tomoegawa. Translation software sometimes translates 巴川 ( Tomoegawa ) as Tomoe River.

 

Edited by Number99
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