Namiki, the first to apply the maki-e technique to fountain pens, is the pinnacle of Japanese fountain pen attainment. Namiki is actually the predecessor of Parker, and today, Namiki is a high-end brand of Parker. In 1924, Ryosuke Namiki invented the technique of improving hard rubber with natural lacquer components to make it less prone to fading and roughness, and the following year hired Matsuda Kashiroku, a national treasure of Japanese lacquer art, to produce the world's first Maki-e fountain pen.
 
Maki-e is the art of painting lacquerware with gold, silver, and toner. The use of maki-e on fountain pens began as an experiment, but it was only in 1931 that Namiki recruited 30 maki-e apprentices and established the "Kokukokai". The Kunimitsu Society is based on the phrase "Sumo Nation's Technique, Maki-e Country's Light Too", hoping that Maki-e will become the glory of Japan like sumo, and encouraging Maki-e masters to pay for their works to show that they do not disgrace the name of Kunikokai. At the same time, Namiki was represented by Dunhill in overseas markets, and the trend of maki-e fountain pens spread to London, Paris, New York, and other places. Since the 30s, there has been an endless stream of brands imitating Namiki from Japan to Europe and the United States.
 
But Namiki has never been surpassed. It takes a lot of time and labor to make a Maki-e pen, and a Grade A (top-of-the-line) Maki-e pen needs to repeat the four steps of painting, drawing, spraying and polishing more than 130 times, which takes more than 3 months to complete. Looking at the world, only the National Light Society provides an environment for concentrating on practice. Now there are many masters who can enter the National Light Society, and they are not ordinary people, but there are only 18 who can be listed on the official website, including the late Shenjin Sacred Hand Shoji. The price of high-end products with the master's payment starts at 10,000 yuan, and the price of only the Guoguang will be more than 1,000 yuan, but the quality is also very good.
 
In 1996, four limited-edition fountain pens launched in collaboration with Dunhill were sold for 20 million yen, and on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the partnership, the two sides launched the "Sakura and Rose" by Master Yoshida Hisai, which is limited to 25 pieces worldwide and has a market price of 700,000 yuan.
 
Falling back to the current fountain pen, Namiki still has a wide range of entry-level styles to choose from. Although the Nippon Art series only uses the most basic flat maki-e techniques, with a 14K gold tip on the 10-gauge pen body, and the Kuniksu Society, nearly 20 elements such as Mount Fuji, feather board, and origami goldfish are very Japanese, and the price is between 3000~4200 yuan, which is the most worth starting. Further up is the Yuen series and the Yuen royal series, using more advanced research and development of high maki-e and luodian techniques, signed with the name of the master, with 18K gold tips, the price ranges from 8,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan.
 
If you want to experience the art of lacquer painting other than maki-e, the immersion gold series will be the best choice. The difficulty of immersion gold is comparable to that of maki-e, which requires carving a pattern on the surface of the lacquer, filling it with gold leaf or gold dust, and scrapping it with a single mistake. The Immersion Gold series is equipped with the thickest No. 50 pen body in the wood, and the Montblanc 149 also looks petite in front of it, and has basically bid farewell to the ranks of daily pens.
 
If you're not a fan of fancy maki-e or immersion gold, Namiki also offers the Urushi Collection in two solid colors, vermilion and jet black. Urushi is also available in size 50, but it is not recommended, and since a low-key solid color has been chosen, of course the everyday size 20 is more suitable. Urushi No. 20 is coated with Japanese wax lacquer on copper tires, which has both a solemn texture and a delicate luster, and can directly reflect the charm of Japanese lacquer more than lacquer brushes. Compared with the hard slip of No. 50, the nib of No. 20 is a pleasing soft elastic tip, with accurate inking, and it is not picky, and 10,000 yuan can be entered.
 
It must be reminded that Namiki's No. 50 pen uses the dropper before the invention of the ink sac to inking, and the ink needs to be used with the dropper, which is very frustrating. Considering that the No. 50 pen body is also used in the highest-end Imperial series and limited series of Namiki, the price starts at 50,000 yuan, and most of them are used for collection, so you might as well use the dropper as a retro element to increase the value of the collection.