The Japanese brand Sailor celebrates the seasons in its Shikiori series, which literally translates to "the colours of the four seasons". This series includes collections of different writing instruments, which are always inspired by the seasons. This year, Sailor launched a special edition celebrating five years of the series in a unique fountain pen representing the four seasons.

Shikiori - The Four Seasons

Sailor's first introduction to this collection was in 2010 with a series of inks inspired by the seasons. They started with 16 inks, and in 2017 they added 4 more inks, one for each season, which were accompanied by four fountain pens. In 2018, they translated these inks into Shikiori markers and that same year the first fountain pens in the series with 14k gold nibs, the Setsugetsu-Soraha, were released.

Sailor Shikiori Amaoto Winter Rain, Summer Rain and Autumn Drizzle

In 2020, the next collection, Fairy Tale, was published, where each pen was inspired by a fairy tale that took place in each season. At the end of the same year, Sailor gave a twist to its series with the Amaoto collection - Sound of Rain - which came with a matt coloured barrel and unlike all the previous ones a two-colour 21k golden nib.

Find out more details of these pieces in their unboxing.

In 2022, the Shikiori series turns five years old and in appreciation Sailor developed a special fountain pen, which commemorates the four seasons in one piece.

SHIKIORI MINORI – 穣

Minori translates to 'bountiful harvest' in Japanese, and is inspired by the growth cycle of rice to achieve a balance between colours.

The rice crop spans a full year, and this is reflected in the PMMA resin body of the pen. The light pastel blue body symbolises the reflection of the sky on the water at the beginning of planting. Once the grains start to grow in the sunlight the water turns green and this is symbolised by the pastel green grip zone. In the cap is the final stage, the ripening of the doughy, brown grain to white rice grain.

This special edition is accompanied by a very special colour-changing ink. Like the green rice plants, which ripen to a golden colour and eventually dry out and return to the earth, the ink is green on contact with the paper and turns earthy brown as it dries.

If you wish to know more about this special edition, or any other Sailor fountain pen contact us and we will be more than happy to assist you.