Nakaya Aka-Tame Fountain Pen

I recently acquired a new Fountain Pen: The Aka-tame from Nakaya. It is my first Japanese fountain pen, and also my first urushi pen (more on this later). After writing a few pages with it, I wanted to write down a few notes about the brand, the material, and this specific model I have. I had already written a short post about it on X, but I felt it deserved a longer write-up.A short history of NakayaNakaya was founded in 1999 by Toshiya Nakata together with experienced craftsmen from Platinum Pen. Even though the company itself is relatively recent, its roots go further back. The name comes from Nakaya Manufacturing Company, which was the predecessor of Platinum in 1924.That matters because Nakaya is not a modern brand. It comes with a history attached to it. Their pens are still made in small numbers, and have a strong focus on hand-finishing and traditional lacquer work called Urushi.Urushi and Tame-nuri techniquesOne of the main reasons Nakaya stands out is urushi. Japanese…