Pilot, the parent of
Namiki and Dunhill Namiki celebrated its 80th Anniversary in 1998. In order
to commemorate the special occasion, Pilot has produced the "ShiSen"
and the "Miyabi" set.
Beautiful gold dust outer box
High quality lacquer box
With "ShiSen" and
"Kokko Kai" written on the bottom left of the lacquer box
Special commemorate words were
written underneath the top cover of the lacquer box
Translated: Special Item
Commemorating the 80th Anniversary
The technical
perfection found on these pens parallel to the work of the leading master
lacquer pen artists from the 1920s. The design for the series comes from an
idea found in the Heian period (794-1185). The Miyabi was produce in 55 sets
and the Shisen (Urushi) was produced in 2000 pieces (combination of Black
and Red Urushi) only. Both the Miyabi sets and the Urushi were sold even
before they were made, once again reflecting how collectible these pens are.
Same packaging as the Miyabi set
Same leather pen pouch, same
envelope, same writing pad and same ink as the Miyabi set!!
Special ink bottle and it is
sealed
This page featured
the Limited Edition Black Urushi fountain pen which has a decorative cap
band depicting the 4 famous Heavenly Animals, the Dragon, Phoenix, Tiger and
the XuanWu (kind of Tortoise). This pen was endorsed by the "Kokko Kai" group that
consists of famous artists like the Yoshida, Murata, Sakamoto, Takamura,
Hayashi, Satoh and others.
Overview of the Black
Urushi - "ShiSen"
This design was
almost similar to the early days of Dunhill-Namiki fountain pen. You can see
the Dunhill-Namiki early days design in Julia Hutt & Stephen Overbury's
book on Namiki. It was featured on page 118 and 119.
Endorsed by the Kokko-Kai
Association
Although we know
that Pilot has produced a combined quantity of 2000 pieces for both the
Black and Red but we are not able to ascertain exactly how many Black and
Red Urushi were produced. Many collectors were surprised on the high quality
of the Lacquer box used in the packaging. Incidentally :-)), the same
packaging was used in the famous Miyabi set. If you don't own the Miyabi
set, then this would be a good chance to at least own the high quality
Lacquer box which was the same as the Miyabi!!