Feels Like Spring

Dog life has me on the go these days leaving little time to sit around dreaming up topics that might make an interesting blog post. All the corralling, trips to the vet or Pet Supermarket and filling in holes dug in the driveway tend to take the mind far from blogspot.com. I mean, concentration is a touch-and-go kind of thing when a thirty-six pound puppy is dragging twenty-five feet of hose-pipe around the yard or chewing on old asbestos shingles she found in the shed. If I’m completely honest though, all of it—excepting the asbestos shingles—is a daily joy.

Moving on from dogs, I was looking back at an old Japan blog post this morning, one showing a sketch and a journal excerpt, and I got the idea to re-post the sketch from a different angle. That part of the earlier post which caught my attention was not so much the sketch of tomatoes and a can of sardines as the thoughts about that particular March day written in the margins around the sketch. 

The sketch and the words surrounding it are in my journal of the time, a Life Noble Note Plain notebook with cream paper. The sketch was done first in a 2B Mitsubishi pencil and then colored with Mitsubishi Uni Watercolor Pencils. The journal notes, as far as pen and ink go, are a little harder to discern because earlier and later pages in the journal leave no hint. Looking at it closely I am fairly certain that the ink is an old De Atramentis color called Jules Verne Deep Sea Blue and the pen used, a Sailor Profit with a 21k Naginata medium nib. As the handwriting might cause a problem for some, a cleaner version is below:

Friday, 5 March 2010 — Thinking of tomatoes and sardines for some reason. I have neither in my kitchen but wish I did. That and some saltine crackers. Feels like spring today, a change from the cold rain of yesterday, a day that typified everything about winter, the wet and the cold. Plum blossoms are in bloom in the garden below me, and the Japanese magnolia is full of buds.

Searching through my photographs of Kugayama I can find none of the ‘garden below me’ showing both the plum blossoms and the budding Japanese magnolia, but the one below is fairly close. At least the magnolia (tree with leaves of the lightest green) is budding though the plum tree is out of the picture. The red blooms at the far left are on a giant azalea at least ten feet in height. I was standing on my third-floor veranda when I took the picture; the house and garden belong to my landlord.

Anchors Aweigh

Funny how when talk comes to the good, better and best of some things, a favorite is apt to slip through the cracks and never get more than a sideline mention. Fountain pens, ink and paper take up enough of my days to assure those around me that I might just have an addiction. Here in these pages I have written again and again about this or that fountain pen, sometimes about the same pen more than once. Looking over again what I have in the past relayed about specific fountain pens brought to light a gaping hole in the reviews of pens in my collection. For reasons I don’t quite understand, one of the most cherished Sailor fountain pens on my desk has by and large been practically ignored in Scriblets.

In the beginning it was Pelikan that attracted my enthusiasm, and even years later it remains clear that the Pelikan quality is hard to beat. But not long after the first couple of Pelikan pens I discovered Sailor and became thoroughly enchanted with one of the early Professional Gear models. And then for a long time every new purchase was another Sailor, each one bringing that same satisfaction over dependability and smoothness. In December of 2006, while browsing in ACT Pen Shop in the Kamata section of Tokyo I came across a Sailor model not seen before and after trying the pen out decided it was well worth saving for. The pen was a Sailor Profit 21 with a Naginata Togi nib designed by Nobuyoshi Nagahara, the nibmeister who has been at Sailor since the age of fourteen. But what first caught my eye was the striking red and black body with gold trim, though not truly a red, more of an orangish red similar to persimmon. I have looked and looked for more detailed information about this model, but have never found much.

It has the classic cigar shape with rounded ends, meaning that the top of the cap does not have the old Sailor anchor logo inset. That logo inset into the cap seems to be a vanishing design feature in the new models from Sailor. The Profit 21 measures 5.5 inches (14 cm) capped and 6 inches (15.2cm) posted, not terribly large, not terribly small; call it just right. The true shine of this fountain pen comes in its look and in its 21k gold nib shaped by Mr Nagahara. No other way to describe this pen when seen resting on a desktop or an open notebook—it is eyecatchingly beautiful in its elegant jet black, orangy-red and shiny gold trim. Hard to imagine who would not stop with an urge to pick it up and draw nearer to such perfect dimension and design. I have said so much, so often about Sailor’s master nib craftsman, Mr Nagahara that any more would be tedious, but this Profit 21 gives the impression of being a design that he took special, loving care with. I like a generous line with a hearty flow of ink, and the broad nib on the Profit 21 gives the feel of a nib that has been crafted to my personal idiosyncrasies.

About the nib…One evening a couple of years back I was cleaning the pen and as will happen horribly on occasion, the pen slipped out of my hands and dropped like a missile, nib first to the hardwood floor. Any sharper and it would have stuck up quivering in the floor. I stood frozen in shock for half a minute imagining the newly blunted nib. No question it was badly damaged by the fall, and in a condition that required professional help. About three weeks later Mr Nagahara was making an appearance at a pen clinic in Tokyo and I took the pen to him for repair. Apparently it was a simple fix for him, and within fifteen minutes I had the pen back in mint condition—and of course, no charge.

Recently I’ve been using an almost-recent ink from Sailor in the Profit 21, a deep mossy green called Tokiwa-matsu. There is nothing particular in this ink that increases the performance of the pen, and honestly ink from various makers seems to do well in this Sailor. One or another ink may look better on the page, but there have been no instances where a certain ink threw the nib off its game and destroyed the line and smooth flow of ink. In five years of regular, hard use this pen has never lost its quality of line.

As do most of the Sailor fountain pens, the Profit 21 uses a cartridge converter. I am still using the original converter after countless ink changes and washings, a longevity that not all my converters can claim. If I had to do it over again, without hesitation I would buy the same pen. Line up seven or eight different pens and chances are good I would finally opt for the Sailor.

Another Sailor Package

Late in December of 2009, while browsing in a Tokyo pen shop I came upon a Sailor pen I hadn’t seen before. Had never even heard of a fountain pen with the name ‘Realo’ and couldn’t figure how anything made by Sailor had gotten past me—for two years. As I came to learn, commemorating its ninety-fifth year of making fountain pens, Sailor released a new design in 2007, one they called the Realo. I had trouble with the numbers, adding ninety-five to the founding year of 1911 and coming up with 2006. Strange math aside, I bought the Realo, excited about it before even leaving the shop.

Some research brought a better understanding of the name, one that really turns out to be both bland and odd. Hard to think we are supposed to put two and two together and realize that the name stands for 'reliance and place,’ or something like that. Problem is, no one will figure that out without a bit of hard looking. Pursue the question long enough and you will find that the first two letters ‘RE’ stand for ‘reliance,’ the third letter ‘A’ is for ‘and’ and the final ‘LO’ is (of course!) ‘locus.’ And so Sailor named a fountain pen a ‘word’ all Japanese people have difficulty pronouncing, tripped up by that pesky ‘L’ and calling it ‘Rearo.’

Whatever you want to call it, the Realo is one more in a line of quality writing instruments from Sailor. The key to this particular pen’s distinction is the naginata nib crafted by Nobuyoshi Nagahara, Sailor’s longtime nibmeister. It is a long, 21 carat gold nib, measuring very near 2.5 centimeters and called naginata after the tenth century Japanese halberd, or long handled sword.

Two features stand out in the Realo, both a first in Sailor design. This is the first Sailor pen to have a piston filler, and the first to have an ink window. The ink window feature is nothing unusual, and common to many fountain pens, but on the Realo it is a clear, easy to see window that doesn’t mislead. Too often ink windows are cloudy or stained and hard to see into; not so with the Realo’s window, which is perfectly clear and washes clean with each ink change. Size-wise, the pen weighs 35 grams, is 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) long closed and 15.5 centimeters (6.1 inches) posted. At a glance, the Realo looks very much like the early Sailor 1911, classic in shape and trim. The body is black acrylic resin and the pocket clip and bands are all 24k gold plate—a beautiful fountain pen.

Initially, the nib had very little flex (rare in a Sailor, unusual in a naginata) and even has H-B stamped on the side of the nib, which I suspect means ‘hard-broad.’ After a year and half of regular use the nib is no longer hard, but has just the right amount of flex. I don’t credit that to anything particular about Sailor nibs, but believe the same will happen with any nib, any pen used regularly over time. As for the B or broad part of it, that classification too is short of being altogether true. I am more comfortable calling it a generous M or medium. Whatever the ink, the pen never gripes or halts its flow across the page, each line testimony to what makes us like and enjoy using fountain pens. Odd name, great pen.

For some good close-up photos of the Realo take a look at what’s offered at Classic Fountain Pens.