{"product_id":"tsugaru-nuri-urushi-fountain-pen-hanagasumi","title":"Hanagasumi Tsugaru-nuri Urushi Fountain Pen, 14K Gold Nib","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Hanagasumi Tsugaru-nuri Urushi Fountain Pen is a Japanese urushi lacquer fountain pen with a hand-turned ebonite body, finished in pink and purple hineri-nuri by a Tsugaru-nuri artisan in Hirosaki, Aomori, and fitted with a 14K gold JoWo nib in Fine. Hanagasumi is the soft haze that cherry blossoms seem to form when seen from a distance in spring, and Hirosaki, home of this lacquer, is one of the best-known cherry blossom towns in Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHineri-nuri is one of the many variation finishes of Tsugaru-nuri. The artisan raises a twisting pattern in beige, layers pale wisteria purple over it, finishes with a coat of pink, and then sands the surface flat. The raised ridges are cut through first, so the purple drifts up through the pink along their twists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNone of this can be hurried. Urushi does not dry like paint. It hardens slowly in a humid cabinet, so each coat has to cure before the next one can go on. The layers are built up one at a time, and the pattern only appears at the very end, when the surface is sanded and polished. For a batch of these pens, the artisan asks for about three months.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePale colors are hard to achieve in urushi, which is naturally a translucent brown, and the artisan describes this pink as close to the lightest tone lacquer allows. Urushi also keeps changing after it is finished. With exposure to light its amber cast slowly fades, and the colors grow brighter over the following months.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe saw this ourselves. Fresh from the workshop, our sample pen had a faint yellow tint. After about two weeks under gentle UV light, kept out of direct sunlight, the yellow had gone and the pink had become a clean, bright pastel. Depending on how recently your pen was finished, it may still carry a little of that warmth, and it will clear the same way with time. Watching that change is part of the pleasure of owning urushi. No two pens come out alike, so the pen you receive is one of a kind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pen fills with the included converter or with standard international short cartridges, two of which come in the box. It is a straight, capped pen with brass fittings, and it arrives in a paulownia (kiri) wood box with a fitted foam insert, ready to give.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe same pen is also lacquered as \u003ca title=\"Hoshizukiyo Tsugaru-nuri Urushi Fountain Pen\" href=\"https:\/\/komorebistationery.com\/products\/tsugaru-nuri-urushi-fountain-pen-hoshizukiyo\" style=\"color: rgb(18, 102, 56);\"\u003eHoshizukiyo\u003c\/a\u003e, gold speckles on black, and \u003ca title=\"Kagaribi Tsugaru-nuri Urushi Fountain Pen\" href=\"https:\/\/komorebistationery.com\/products\/tsugaru-nuri-urushi-fountain-pen-kagaribi\" style=\"color: rgb(18, 102, 56);\"\u003eKagaribi\u003c\/a\u003e, red rising through black. See more of our \u003ca title=\"Japanese Fountain Pens\" href=\"https:\/\/komorebistationery.com\/collections\/japanese-fountain-pen\" style=\"color: rgb(18, 102, 56);\"\u003eJapanese fountain pens\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eDetails\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn the box: fountain pen, converter, 2 ink cartridges, paulownia (kiri) wood box with foam insert\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSize: 5.9\" × 0.63\" (15 cm × 1.6 cm), capped\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWeight: 1.2 oz (35 g)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNib: JoWo #6, 14K gold (585), Fine\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFilling: converter (included) or standard international short cartridges\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMaterials: ebonite, natural urushi lacquer, brass fittings\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOrigin: Japan. Lacquered in Hirosaki, Aomori. Nib made in Germany.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBrand: Komorebi Stationery\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNote: \u003cbr\u003e- Each pen is lacquered and sanded by hand, so the pattern and color differ from pen to pen and from the photographs. \u003cbr\u003e- The cap does not post. The lacquer continues onto the grip section, so wipe off any ink after filling from a bottle, and do not pull the nib out of the section.\u003cbr\u003e- Wipe with a soft, dry cloth and keep away from heat and long direct sunlight. In rare cases natural urushi may cause a skin reaction.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Story of Tsugaru-nuri\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTsugaru-nuri is the lacquerware of Hirosaki and the surrounding Tsugaru region of Aomori, at the northern tip of Japan's main island. It goes back more than 300 years to the late 17th century, when the Tsugaru domain brought lacquer craftsmen to the region. It was designated a Traditional Craft of Japan in 1975, and in 2017 its techniques were recognized as an Important Intangible Cultural Property.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe craft has four signature techniques, kara-nuri, nanako-nuri, monsha-nuri and nishiki-nuri, along with many variation finishes. What they share is the method: lacquer is built up layer by layer, each coat left to cure, and sanded back down through those layers again and again, so a single piece can take a month and a half or more. The work asks so much patience that locals jokingly call it baka-nuri, roughly \"fool's lacquer.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKomorebi had each pen made by two specialists. A woodturner shapes the ebonite barrel and cap on a lathe, and a Tsugaru-nuri lacquer artisan in Hirosaki lays and sands the lacquer by hand. Ebonite, a hard rubber long used for fountain pens, holds urushi well, and Japanese makers have been lacquering ebonite pens since the 1920s.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Komorebi Stationery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54291166757147,"sku":"KMT0003","price":912.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0775\/0333\/2635\/files\/hanagasumi-tsugaru-nuri-fountain-pen-01-capped-top-view.jpg?v=1793322234","url":"https:\/\/komorebistationery.com\/products\/tsugaru-nuri-urushi-fountain-pen-hanagasumi","provider":"Komorebi Stationery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}