Collection: Kakimori: The Dip Pen Arts of Tokyo

There is a particular kind of trust built across more than sixty years of making things well. Kakimori has been part of the stationery trade in Tokyo since 1961 — first as a family business supplying offices with paper goods, and since 2010, under third-generation owner Takuma Hirose, quietly redefining what it means to write with joy.

The Kuramae Standard
The company was founded at the intersection of craft and everyday use. The shop takes its name and home from Kuramae, a former merchant district on the Sumida River now known for small workshops and independent makers — the kind of neighbourhood where things are still made by hand, one at a time. In 2010, Hirose reopened the family business as a single shop dedicated entirely to the pleasure of writing, and by 2021 that vision had grown into a full line of original tools.

The Dip Pen Difference
Kakimori's Frost pens are particularly admired for their interchangeable metal nib system. Unlike cartridge or converter pens, a dip pen holder takes any bottled ink directly — no proprietary cartridges, no clogged converters, just a solid brass or aluminum body paired with an exposed steel nib. The open nib design that once limited dip pens to calligraphy now makes them the easiest way to try shimmering, sheening, or pigment inks that give conventional fountain pens trouble. The result is a writing tool built for daily use, refillable with any ink in the world.

The Collection at Shosai
The Kakimori lineup at Shosai centres on the Frost dip pen family — sandblasted aluminum and brass holders in a range of frosted colourways, paired with a choice of interchangeable brass nibs from fine to broad. Each pen carries the same foundational commitment: tools engineered to be refilled, restrung, and used for years, with the nib itself the only part you ever need to replace. At Shosai, we carry a curated selection of Kakimori dip pens and nibs, available in our Gatineau boutique and online, serving the Ottawa–Gatineau National Capital Region and beyond. Whether you are picking up your first dip pen or adding an unconventional writing tool to an established collection, Kakimori belongs in the conversation.