Nakaya
Nakaya Naka-ai Writer Jidai Nuri
Nakaya Naka-ai Writer Jidai Nuri
The Nakai-Writer Jidai-nuri is a tactile delight due to its uneven finish, and the understated semi-gloss finish feels natural in the hand. The cap and barrel designed by Nakaya master pen designer Shinichi Yoshida in collaboration with Classic Fountain Pen's John Mottishaw combines many of Nakaya’s most distinctive design features in a single model. ""Naka-ai"" has the meaning of middle or in-between, and brings to mind the Middle Way of Buddhist practice with its emphasis on balance, integrity, and centeredness. Appropriately enough, the Naka-ai occupies a midway position between Nakaya's smaller Piccolo series pens and the longer Deskpen. This is a pen that will be a very comfortable fit for most pen users.
The Nakaya Naka-ai Writer Jidai-nuri fountain pen is handcrafted from ebonite and Urushi lacquer, and comes standard with your choice of solid gold 14k single-tone nib in Extra Fine, Fine, Medium, Broad, or Extra Broad,with Fine Soft, Medium Soft, andSuper Extra Fine nibs also available.
The double slit Music nib is available at an added premium, as are plated nibs in Pink Gold, Rhodium, Ruthenium, or Two-Tone.
With its textured finish and striking black and red color, the Nakaya Naka-ai Writer Jidai-nuri is one of Nakaya's most memorable writing instruments. The tapered body of the Naka-ai model provide an excellent showcase for the unique surface of the Jidai-nuri.
The creation of this pen requires a time-intensive multi-step process. For the cap and barrel, Black Urushi is layered over a base coating of rich red Shu. A careful polishing process artfully removes sections of the Black Urushi, exposing the underlayer in a manner which mimics natural weathering. For the gripping section, the process is reversed, with the Shu Urushi applied on top of a Black Urushi base. A gold clip allows the pen to be securely affixed to a shirt pocket, adding an element of practicality to this sculptural object.
As with the Negoro pens, the Jidai-nuri is a superb example of the Wabi-Sabi aesthetic, in which objects are seen as gaining in value and significance with time and usage. The intentional creation of ""flaws"" or ""weathering"" adds another layer of complexity to this approach. It also emphasizes the ""imperfect perfection"" found in nature, and emanates a truly organic feel.
The Jidai-nuri can be filled with bottled inkusing the provided converter. It can also use Platinum brand high-quality ink cartridges. Hand-painted Maki-e converters are also available.
Nakaya 14k nibs are well-suited to customizations including Stub, Cursive Italic, and Left Oblique, as well as the modification for added flex - see our nib customizations page for more information.
Because the gripping section has been painted with red Urushi over a black base, speckles of black are subtly revealed.
Decorative rice paper, a simple solid softwood shipping box decorated with Japanese Kanji script, and a fabric pen ""kimono"" are all included with this pen, making it a lovely presentation item. Sensibly elegant packaging has long been a hallmark of the Nakaya brand.
Nakaya pens are individually handcrafted in a process that requires a minimum of three to six months and often much longer.
Unless requested otherwise, each pen or nib you purchase from us will be carefully examined, tested, and optimized for your personal writing characteristics before it ships. See our nib set-up and optimization page for more details.
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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. 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.. |