Fierce competition between two Tokyo pencil makers led to a "Golden Age" of Japanese pencil manufacturing from 1952-1967.
As detailed in this article from the St. Louis Art Supply website, Tombow launched the premium HOMO pencil in 1952, featuring an ultra-smooth core developed with University of Tokyo scientists.
The era began when Tombow Pencil launched HOMO in 1952, Japan's first premium pencil featuring an ultra-smooth core made possible through collaboration with University of Tokyo scientists. This success spurred rival Mitsubishi Pencil into action. After a sobering European tour revealed poor perceptions of Japanese pencils abroad, Mitsubishi hired industrial designer Yoshio Akioka to create Uni in 1958, featuring a distinctive maroon color chosen from 160 competitor samples to ensure uniqueness.
The competition culminated in 1966-67 with two legendary models still made today: Mitsubishi's Hi-Uni and Tombow's MONO 100. "The ideal pencil would have '6B blackness with 9H hardness,'" Mitsubishi noted in their development documents, "Hi-Uni's innovative mixture of particle sizes comes close to this unachievable ideal."
Though wooden pencil use has declined since peaking in 1966, these manufacturers' relentless pursuit of perfection created writing instruments that remain unsurpassed half a century later.
Previously:
• First impression of the new Blackwing pencil
• Hand-making 1,000 pencils from pallet wood
• $6,400 for 32 pencils? Sondheim's Blackwing 602 stash big hit at auction
• Dave Picciuto nerds out for over 13 minutes about pencils
• How to make a knife handle from colored pencils
• The new Palomino Blackwing 602 pencil is a fine tribute to the Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602
