The Nagahara Nib Story

Fine pen nibs can only be produced by professionally skilled craftsman who painstakingly produce and perfect them using their experience.

Sailor is fortunate to enjoy the legendary prowess of Master Nib Designer Nobuyoshi Nagahara who has been a nib specialist for over 60 years with Sailor Pen.Mr. Nagahara and his son Yukio Nagahara personally direct the design process of Sailors unique nibs.

A long lost technique of making Naginata-Togi (Japanese long sword) nib was revived by him. A request from a calligraphy artist in Japan started Mr. Nagahara to further focus his attention on the nib. A unique looking pen nib called Cross-point was created using two nibs crafted together. This special nib had two slits, vertical

and horizontal, a key to heavy ink flow even when applied to rough papers. Mr.Nagaharas search for even more special pen nibs continued. Later on, a thin strip of solid gold was skillfully applied onto the top of the nib, which was then named the Cross Emperor

(see image below). This gold strip provides an additional Ink reserve, which is necessary for a Fountain pen with such a large ink flow. Mr. Nagahara has also created other specialist nibs showing the world the unlimited possibilities of nib design and craftmanship.