(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
I first saw the Sailor x Nagasawa Kobe Affection Kyomachi Legend Blue pens (phew, say THAT 3 times fast!) at the DC Pen Show a few months back. It is a beautiful blue pen with gold sparkles, but I’m on #teamflattops, so I was good and passed on them. Wallet saved! Then I saw them a few weeks later at the SF Pen Show and reminded myself that I already have a 1911 and that I didn’t need any more because, you know, #teamflattops. And since Nagasawa wasn’t attending any other US pen shows after SF, I and my wallet were safe. Or so I thought. I found out that Nagasawa partnered with Vanness Pens after the SF Pen Show to sell their products in the US. which meant that I saw the pens again at the Dallas Pen Show. And Joe Crace, The Gentleman Stationer kept posting pictures of the pens all weekend and tempting me with these beauties. Darn it, Joe! I couldn’t decide between the 1911S and the 1911L, but Lisa Vanness was kind enough to loan all 3 of them for a comparison review to help me decide.
Act I - Background & Introduction to the Characters
Nagasawa is a retail stationery company with several shops located primarily in Kobe, Japan. They are most known for the pen collaborations with brands like Platinum and Sailor, as well as their line of Kobe inks which are made by Sailor. There are stories behind the names of their pens and inks like “Koikawa Ipe” (their exclusive Decimo), which is named for Brazil’s national tree that was planted along the Koi River or “Tarumi Apricot” (Kobe ink #25), which is the color of the sunset when viewed from nearby Tarumi’s hills. And this pen is no exception. It is the first in the “Kobe Affection” series and is called “Kyomachi Legend Blue”, named for the Kyomachi area where the Kobe City Museum is located.
There are 3 models of the Kyomachi Legend Blue pens: Medium (what is more commonly referred to as 1911S), FL (aka 1911L), and Large (aka King of Pen or KOP). All 3 pens are slightly pointy, cigar-shaped pens, as opposed to their flat top Pro Gear counterparts. As there are already many articles out there on the various Sailor models, sizes and nibs, I will instead focus on this particular release. Since the pens are on loan, I won’t be inking them up and will only use them for comparison purposes.
The Kyomachi Legend Blue is a beautiful blue pen that leans a bit towards periwinkle without being purple and has subtle, gold shimmer interspersed throughout. The pen has gold trim, including the cap band which has the Nagasawa name and “Pen Style Den” debossed around it. As with other Nagasawa exclusives, the weathervane is also engraved on these nibs.
I love this beautiful (and difficult to photograph) material!
Nagasawa cap band.
Kobe Weathervane on the nibs of the Kyomachi Legend Blue as well as the Platinum 3776 Apricot exclusive and Sailor PG Kounan Maroon exclusive.
As with other Sailors, the Kyomachi Legend Blue 1911S has a 14kt gold nib (EF, F, MF, M, B, and Zoom); the 1911L (EF, F, MF, M, B, and Zoom) and KOP (M and B) both have 21kt gold nibs.
Act II - Main Story
The Kyomachi Legend Blue 1911S is a fairly slim and compact pen, though not as short as its Pro Gear Slim sibling, due to its pointed ends, which gives it a bit more length.
1911S and the Pro Gear Slim, Nuts.
The length difference is most noticeable when uncapped and unposted.
Caps were gently and barely posted. Length is much closer when posted.
1911S (top is just barely longer in hand – I didn’t notice the difference.
The 1911L is a bit longer and girthier than the 1911S and likewise, is longer than the Pro Gear due to the ends. Note that the 1911L Kyomachi Blue has a smooth, metal grip section which has a ledge at the nib end to prevent your fingers from slipping. I’m not sure why they chose to put the metal section on the 1911L but not the other two. I did not write with it, since it is a loaner, but it felt comfortable in hand. I don’t usually have issues with metal grip sections though.
1911L and the Pro Gear, Tequila Sunrise.
The KOP is the largest of the three and has the same grip section material like the 1911S. True to its name, the King of Pen is not a small pen. Aside from the pen being longer and girthier, the nib is also significantly bigger (longer and wider) than the others, where the difference is less noticeable. As such, folks like me who have steeper writing angles or smaller hands aren’t able to comfortably use the KOP (I’m also unable to use pens that have Bock 8, Pilot 30 or 50 nibs, etc. for the same reason). They only made 100 of these in the KOP size - the nibs are engraved with the number.
You can see that this is number 018/100.
1911S, 1911L and KOP nib sizes - the KOP nib is significantly bigger/longer/wider than the other two.
Left: This is my natural, steep writing angle with the 1911L. Right: Because I like to hold my pens close to the nib and also because of my not-big-enough-for-KOP-hands, I have to write at a lower angle in order for the longer nib to touch the paper. This feels very uncomfortable to me so thankfully the KOP is not a pen I can use/buy.
How each pen looks in my hand.
Here is the KOP next to similarly sized pens: Pelikan M800, Aurora 88, Visconti Homo Sapiens, Visconti Opera Master, Leonardo Momento Zero Grande, Pilot Custom 823, Montblanc 146, Platinum President.
Act III - Ending
While I liked how the metal grip section looked on the 1911L, it being a touch too pointy for me made it easier to pass. Maybe if the ends were more rounded, like on the Platinum 3776 or Pilot Custom 74, I would have considered springing for the 1911L. I did have to reach out to Lisa Vanness to get the 1911S because I just couldn’t resist this gorgeous blue pen. (I was good and sold the 1911S that I had so I could justify getting this one instead!)
I picked Kobe #50 Kyomachi Legend Blue for the first inking due to the name. The ink was created before the pen, so it’s not the most perfect match colorwise, but it’s close enough. I think that next time I will pick Diamine Blue Flame which matches the pen color better as well as the gold shimmer in the barrel.
Sailor x Nagasawa Kyomachi Legend Blue 1911S and Kobe #50 Kyomachi Legend Blue.
All 3 pens, as well as the Kobe ink of the same name, are available for purchase at the Vanness Pens website. The 1911S sells for $300, the 1911L for $450 and the KOP for $880. Thank you to Vanness Pens for loaning the 3 pens for review and for letting me purchase the 1911S. 🙂
(Disclaimer: All pens were loaned to me for review, and I ended up purchasing the 1911S from Vanness Pens at a discount.)
