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Yatate portable pen and ink case, Japan Stationery Museum, Taito ward, Tokyo.The Japan Stationery Museum (Nihon Bungu Shiryokan) is a small repository of things to do with writing - in the broadest sense of the word - in the Yanagibashi district of Taito ward, Tokyo.

The museum occupies the first floor of the Tokyo Bungu Hanbai Kenpo Kaikan (The Tokyo Stationers' Insurance Hall), and covers a lot into quite a small space.

Display cases in the Japan Stationery MuseumThere are the expected things on display like pens, pencils and calligraphy paraphernalia, but among them certain items stand out such as replicas of pencils used by the Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa (1543?1616) and the military commander Masamune Date (1567?1636), ancient Chinese ink stones, and Edo era ink cases (that look like smoking pipes). There are ink bottles, and a huge calligraphy brush made from 50 horses' tails and weighing 14kg.
There are examples of Egyptian papyrus, quill pens, bamboo pens, grass pens, antique fountain pens representing dozens of illustrious brands, and all manner of other writing implements.

Ink bottles, Japan Stationery Museum, Taito-ku, Tokyo.Yet there are unexpected items, too, that stretch the meaning of the word "stationery," like personal seals from China and Japan, including a replica of a solid gold one used officially in Japan in ancient times. There is a collection of wicked-looking paper knives. And there are even machines such as cash registers, ca...