• Why Japanese Fountain Pens?
• The Best Luxury Japanese Fountain Pen Recommendations
  • Top Choices
  • The Best Luxury Japanese Retractable Fountain Pen
  • The Best Luxury Japanese Specialty Nib Fountain Pen
  • The Best Luxury Japanese Piston-Filling Fountain Pen
  • The Best Luxury Japanese Vacuum-Filling Fountain Pen
  • The Best Luxury Japanese Soft Nib Fountain Pen
  • The Best Luxury Japanese Pocket Fountain Pen
  • The Best Luxury Japanese Slim Fountain Pen
  • The Best Luxury Japanese Maki-e Fountain Pen
• Japanese Fountain Pen Nibs
• More Resources
• Conclusion
• Shop This Post

The central, most important part of any Japanese fountain pen is the nib. Style and beauty are also highly valued, but they are always secondary to the quality of the nib. Echoing the passion of traditional Japanese swordsmiths, Japanese penmakers craft their nibs in-house, unlike many American and European brands that outsource their nib production. This allows Japanese penmakers to create some of the most consistently high-quality nibs in the world.

Japanese fountain pens tend to have much finer tips than pens made elsewhere. Because the Japanese writing system is made up of thousands of intricate characters, Japanese pens need to be as fine-tipped and precise as possible in order to write legibly. And because Japanese penmakers specialize in very fine nibs, their fine nibs are often much smoother than similarly fine pens from Western brands. If these characteristics sound appealing, then Japanese fountain pens are for you.

Packed with practical features and boasting a wide selection of stylish body colors, these pens are superb choices for any fountain pen user. And at around $200 each, they make relatively affordable gateway pens for people looking to step into the world of premium, gold nib fountain pens.

The 3776 Century features an innovative "Slip and Seal" cap that prevents nib dryout for up to a year without use.

The 3776 Century was created by Platinum to be their ideal fountain pen. The name is a reference to Mount Fuji, which has an elevation of 3776 meters. Just as Fuji is Japan’s highest and most revered peak, Platinum strives to make this pen the pinnacle of fountain pen craftsmanship. Since its introduction in 1978, the 3776 has been repeatedly refined and improved. The 3776 Century—the latest design update—features Platinum’s innovative “Slip and Seal” cap design that prevents nib dryout for up to a year without use.

This fountain pen is made of lightweight resin, and its medium size makes it well-suited to virtually any hand size. It comes in a range of stunning transparent body finishes—like dark blue Chartres or rich Bourgogne—with metal detailing that matches the nib. It’s also available in a range of nib sizes from extra fine to broad, plus some specialty nibs like the needlepoint ultra extra fine and semi-flexible soft fine.

The Sailor Pro Gear Slim is a pocket-friendly fountain pen.

The Pro Gear Slim swaps out the rounded, cigar-shaped body of the Custom 74 and 3776 Century for one that has flat ends. Its appearance isn’t the only thing that’s different: while the previous two recommendations are full-size pens, the Pro Gear Slim veers closer to the pocket pen category. It measures in at less than five inches when capped, but extends to a comfortable five and half inches by posting the cap on the back of the barrel. Sailor releases new colors of the Pro Gear Slim regularly, which includes limited edition varieties that are a little more expensive.

Sailor also produces fountain pens for Nagasawa. The Original Pro Gear Slim is nearly identical in appearance to Sailor’s Pro Gear Slim: it features a weathercock imprint on the nib and an icon of a bottle of ink on the cap’s finial rather than Sailor’s anchor imagery. It also comes in more colors that are inspired by the natural sights of Kobe, Japan.

The Pilot Custom 912 offers a wide variety of specialty nibs.

At first glance, the Custom 912 may look like an ordinary pen. Its resin body only comes in black, and it offers no alternatives to its rhodium trim. Its high capacity CON-70 converter can be found with other Pilot pens. But under the cap, it sports an unparalleled selection of exotic specialty nibs for those looking to explore beyond the staple trio of fine, medium, and broad nibs.

• The Extra Fine nib is a needlepoint nib for creating incredibly thin lines.
• The Fine nib has a narrow point that makes thin lines. It’s suitable for small handwriting.
• The Fine Medium nib falls between the fine and medium nib sizes for a line that is neither too wide nore too thin.
• The Medium nib is a moderately sized nib that works well for general writing.
• The Broad nib is a wide nib for forming thick lines.
• The Double Broad nib falls between a broad and coarse nib.
• The Coarse nib is an extra broad nib for making very bold lines.
• The Stub nib is an italic nib that creates broad downstrokes and thin side strokes.
• The Music nib is a wide italic nib with two ink slits and three tines for a wet, consistent flow.
• The Falcon nib is a highly flexible nib designed to imitate the feel of writing with a brush. It is not to be confused with the nib found on the Pilot Elabo—also known as the Pilot or Namiki Falcon. The Custom 912’s Falcon nib is much more flexible.
• The Soft Fine nib gives moderate line variation and a soft, cushioned feel during writing. It performs comparably to the Pilot Elabo’s soft fine nib.
• The Soft Fine Medium nib is similar to that of the soft fine nib, but it makes a slightly wider line.
• The Soft Medium nib also provides moderate line variation and a cushioned feel. It feels similar to the Pilot Elabo’s soft medium nib.
• The Posting nib is a firm nib with a downturned tip shape that makes very fine, crisp lines with little pressure. It is especially well-suited to writing on paper that is prone to feathering.
• The Waverly nib is a fine nib with an upturned tip shape that provides a remarkably smooth writing experience, regardless of how you hold it or what paper you use.

The Platinum Modern Maki-e is an inexpensive way to add a maki-e pen to your collection.

Maki-e is a traditional Japanese art technique in which lacquerware is decorated with sprinkled metal powder to form designs and patterns. It’s a time-consuming process performed by skilled artisans and can take months to complete. Because of this, maki-e pens tend to cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars. In comparison, the Modern Maki-e is a relatively inexpensive way to add this beautiful art form to your fountain pen collection. Most maki-e designs are painted and decorated entirely by hand, but this fountain pen uses screen-printing to apply the base design. Additional elements are then added by hand.

For a maki-e fountain pen that is entirely hand-painted, consider the 3776 Century Urushi Maki-e. It combines one of our top choice fountain pens with bodies that are decorated with cherry blossoms, peaceful landscapes, or floral fans.

If you’re new to Japanese fountain pens, we recommend starting with a fine or medium nib. Both of these sizes offer a great balance of fineness and smoothness. Japanese fountain pens use a different nib sizing standard than the rest of the world—a Japanese fine nib is similar to or even slightly finer than a European or American extra fine nib. Even so, a Japanese fine nib is likely to be much smoother than any Western extra fine nib you’ve used before. You can read more about Japanese versus Western nib sizes in our Guide to Choosing a Fountain Pen Nib.

The Pilot Elabo's soft extra fine nib can produce some line variation. However, we don't recommend flexing the nib too much (like above). Your writing may appear to "railroad," or you could even "spring" the tines.

“Soft” nibs bend back slightly when you press them against the page, giving them a soft, cushioned feel. With a bit of extra writing pressure, they also create line variation that gives your writing extra character. Soft nibs can be used to imitate flexible point pen scripts like Spencerian, but they aren’t nearly as flexible as the dip pen nibs that professional calligraphers use. If wide swells and dramatic flourishes are what you’re after, stick with a G nib or Brause 66 Extra Fine nib.

Soft nibs also take more effort to flex than dip pen nibs, so writing in a flexible script for longer than a sentence or two will quickly become fatiguing—especially with scripts like copperplate that use a lot of thick downstrokes.

When using a soft nib for calligraphy, be very careful not to flex the pen too hard. Some pressure is required to flex the pen, but too much can “spring” the tines, causing them to stay separated even after lifting the nib from the page. A sprung nib will suffer from skipping and hard starts, or even stop working altogether, and you’ll need to find a professional nib repair specialist to fix it. Don’t let this scare you off from trying a soft nib. Just be extra careful until you’ve developed a good sense of how much force the pen can take.

Another thing to keep in mind when using soft nibs for calligraphy is that you may need to write slower than you normally would. Otherwise, the pen may use up ink faster than the ink can flow through the feed, resulting in “railroading”—when the tips of the nib draw fine parallel lines without any ink in the space between them. This is especially true of the very flexible Falcon nib on the Pilot Custom 912.

Almost all gold nibs are marked with their gold content.

All of the pens featured in this guide have solid gold nibs rather than the stainless steel nibs found on most fountain pens. Gold nibs aren’t necessarily better than steel nibs, but they do have some special characteristics that many users value. First, gold nibs are softer than steel nibs, giving even non-flexible gold nibs a more cushioned feel and the potential for slight line variation. Second, gold nibs are more resistant to corrosion than stainless steel nibs, making them a better choice for pens you plan on leaving to your grandkids after decades of hard use.

Gold nibs aren’t inherently smoother than steel nibs because both are almost always tipped with a harder metal like iridium or osmium to prevent them from wearing down over time. But because gold nibs are so much more valuable than steel nibs, they tend to go through a stricter quality control process, resulting in smoother and more consistent performance.

Both gold and steel nibs can be plated with other metals to change their color without affecting their performance. The best way to tell if a nib is made of gold is to look for an inscription stating its gold content, such as 14k/585 or 18k/750. Any nib without such an inscription is probably steel.

• The Beginner's Guide to Fountain Pens
• Help, My Fountain Pen Won't Write!
• How to Write with a Fountain Pen
• Fountain Pen Filling Systems Explained
• How to Use a Fountain Pen Converter
• Guide to Fountain Pen Nibs: Choosing a Fountain Pen Nib
• Guide to Fountain Pen Nibs: Troubleshooting Tips and Tricks
• How to Clean a Fountain Pen

• The Best Beginner Fountain Pens
• The Best Fountain Pens for Students
• The Best Fountain Pens for Every Budget
• The Best Japanese Fountain Pens
• The Best Fountain Pens Under 100 Dollars