Tsugaru-nuri Urushi Fountain Pens

Tsugaru-nuri urushi fountain pens, lacquered by hand by a Tsugaru-nuri artisan in Hirosaki, Aomori, in northern Japan. Tsugaru-nuri builds a raised pattern on the barrel, buries it under coat after coat of urushi lacquer, then sands the surface back until the hidden layers come through. Our pens are finished in kara-nuri, the best-known Tsugaru-nuri technique, and hineri-nuri, a twisting variation.

Each coat has to cure before the next goes on, so a batch takes about three months. The pattern only appears in the final sanding, so no two pens are alike. Every pen has a hand-turned ebonite body, a 14K gold nib and a paulownia wood box. Browse all our urushi pens or Japanese fountain pens.