Pilot, the parent of Namiki and Dunhill Namiki celebrated its 80th Anniversary in 1998. In order to commemorate the special occasion, Pilot has produced the "ShiSen" and the "Miyabi" set. 

Beautiful gold dust outer box

High quality lacquer box

With "ShiSen" and "Kokko Kai" written on the bottom left of the lacquer box

Special commemorate words were written underneath the top cover of the lacquer box

Translated: Special Item Commemorating the 80th Anniversary 

The technical perfection found on these pens parallel to the work of the leading master lacquer pen artists from the 1920s. The design for the series comes from an idea found in the Heian period (794-1185). The Miyabi was produce in 55 sets and the Shisen (Urushi) was produced in 2000 pieces (combination of Black and Red Urushi) only. Both the Miyabi sets and the Urushi were sold even before they were made, once again reflecting how collectible these pens are.

Same packaging as the Miyabi set

Same leather pen pouch, same envelope, same writing pad and same ink as the Miyabi set!!

Special ink bottle and it is sealed 

This page featured the Limited Edition Red Urushi fountain pen which has a decorative cap band depicting the 4 famous Heavenly Animals, the Dragon, Phoenix, Tiger and the XuanWu (kind of Tortoise). This pen was endorsed by the "Kokko Kai" group that consists of famous artists like the Yoshida, Murata, Sakamoto, Takamura, Hayashi, Satoh and others.

Overview of the Red Urushi - "ShiSen"

This design was almost similar to the early days of Dunhill-Namiki fountain pen. You can see the Dunhill-Namiki early days design in Julia Hutt & Stephen Overbury's book on Namiki. It was featured on page 118 and 119.

Endorsed by the Kokko-Kai Association

Although we know that Pilot has produced a combined quantity of 2000 pieces for both the Black and Red but we are not able to ascertain exactly how many Black and Red Urushi were produced. However, many dealers and collectors say that the Red Urushi was lesser than the Black Urushi. As such the Red Urushi is now selling higher than the Black Urushi because of its rarity. 

Many collectors were surprised on the high quality of the Lacquer box used in the packaging. Incidentally :-)), the same packaging was used in the famous Miyabi set. If you don't own the Miyabi set, then this would be a good chance to at least own the high quality Lacquer box which was the same as the Miyabi!!