Nakaya
Nakaya Long Cigar Ascending Dragon Ao-tamenuri
Nakaya Long Cigar Ascending Dragon Ao-tamenuri
Previously known as the Blue Dragon, this dragon motif, seen on other Nakaya fountain pens in Aka-tamenuri and Kuro-tamenuri, has been employed on the Long Cigar Ascending Dragon Ao-tamenuri with an intriguing blue-green finish developed by Nakaya. This unique urushi lacquer color mix gives a stronger sense of the ascending dragon, even when new.
In Tame-Sukashi technique, layers of clear, smooth Urushi lacquer are applied over a painted motif - it is similar to Tame-Nuri technique, in which lacquer is applied over a solid color. The underlying motif in Tame-Sukashi will become more promiment over time as the Urushi lacquer ages and becomes more transparent.
The nature of this color material is such that the longer the pen is used, the more the motif ""ascends"", becoming more and more evident. This gives double meaning to the ""ascending"" as the dragon also ascends up the pen in pursuit of the flaming pears, seen on the gripping section.
''Seiryu'' is one of four gods and protects the east direction. ""Seiryu"" means the ''Blue Dragon'' in Chinese. However, the true color is green or blueish-green, which matches with the color of this artwork.
We provide a complimentary Platinum-brand converter used to fill this pen with bottled ink. Hand-painted Maki-e converters are also available.
The heavy decorative rice paper, simple solid softwood shipping box, and fabric pen pouch make a lovely presentation for these Nakaya Urushi pens. Sensible and elegant packaging has long been a hallmark of the Nakaya brand.
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Customization Guide
Stub
 
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Above is the same size nib after a regrind to Stub. A regrind to Stub is often a good place to start for your first customization. Â A Stub nib provides broad down-strokes and narrow cross-strokes while writing, and is less position-sensitive on the paper than the crisper and slightly more demanding cursive italic.
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Cursive Italic
 
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More demanding, but also providing crisper edges and more line-width variation, is the very popular customization to Cursive Italic. This also provides broad down-strokes and narrow cross-strokes, but is also more position-sensitive in terms of how the pen is held and requires more skill on the part of the user. This is a common customization for artists and calligraphers, but is still smooth enough to make for a good everyday writer.
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Formal Italic
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Formal Italic is an even crisper and more demanding customization than either cursive italic or left oblique, and is usually utilized for calligraphy and by the most experienced users. This provides broad down-strokes and narrow cross-strokes, with even crisper corners and edges than a cursive italic - this is an extremely position-sensitive customization.
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Left Oblique
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 Commonly used for signatures and correspondence, the Left Oblique customization provides broad diagonal strokes and narrow cross-strokes, and like a cursive italic, is more position-sensitive and demanding than a stub. The whole pen must be rotated to the left in order to write smoothly, without skipping. The "Left" in Left Oblique refers to the cut of the nib itself, and does not refer to the handedness of the writer. |
Architect's Point (Also for Arabic and Hebraic writing)
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A more exotic regrind is that to Architect’s Point. Named after the style of writing used by Frank Lloyd Wright, this regrind is the opposite of cursive italic, and provides for broad cross-strokes and narrow down-strokes. This also tends to be a particularly useful customization for those practicing Arabic or Hebraic calligraphy. |
Spencerian
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Perhaps our most popular customization, but also one of the most advanced, the Mottishaw Spencerian Customization has gained special attention from being featured in a customer's YouTube video which has now received over twelve million views! The Spencerian starts from a semi-soft 14k nib and adds additional flex and a regrind to needlepoint to create a specialized writing point used for copperplate calligraphy. For more details, visit our special Spencerian page.. |