## Paper [Tomoe River](https://www.minabeko.com/blog/tomoe-river-switchover-a-review). ### Tomoegawa, a paper manufacturer founded in 1914 on the banks of the Tomoe River in Shimizu, Japan, introduced Tomoe River paper in 1981. It was originally developed as a lightweight commercial printing stock, first used for Bible printing, where its combination of low weight (35-52gsm) and opacity mattered most. Its qualities as an ink-friendly surface — smooth, absorbent, showing off sheen and shading in fountain pen inks — went largely unnoticed outside Japan for decades. The fountain pen community discovered it through Japanese stationery like the Hobonichi Techo planner, which used 52gsm Tomoe River as its page stock, and through loose-leaf and notebook sellers such as Nanami Paper. By the 2010s it had become the benchmark paper for fountain pen enthusiasts worldwide, prized for handling wet, saturated inks with minimal feathering and bleed-through despite its thinness, at the cost of longer drying times and visible "ghosting" (the shadow of writing showing through the page). Tomoe River was produced on a single machine, Shizuoka Plant #7. In 2019, Tomoegawa decommissioned that machine and moved production to Plant #9, which produced a chemically altered version. Enthusiasts noticed differences in ink behavior and began referring to "old" (pre-2019) versus "new" Tomoe River. In February 2021, citing low demand, Tomoegawa announced it would halt Machine 9 production that September and discontinue the Tomoe River line entirely, triggering a hoarding rush across the fountain pen community, dubbed by some "the toilet paper shortage of stationery." Later in 2021, Sanzen Paper Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Chuetsu Pulp, acquired the rights to Tomoe River from Tomoegawa in a deal reported at roughly $2.64 million and resumed shipping paper under the name in November 2021. Sanzen has continued to refine the formulation since, releasing an updated version in 2024 and a further refined version in 2025; Hobonichi's 2025 and 2026 planners use the Sanzen-produced "Tomoe River S," which addresses some of the ghosting complaints of earlier editions while keeping the paper's characteristic smoothness and sheen. Sources: [fudefan: Tomoe River, The Full Story](https://www.fudefan.com/2021/06/tomoe-river/), [fudefan: Sanzen's Tomoe River successor](https://www.fudefan.com/2021/11/sanzen/), [Pen Noob: Sanzen acquires Tomoe River paper rights](https://www.pennoob.com/2021/10/28/tomoegawa-stops-making-tomoe-river-paper/), [Pen Noob: Tomoegawa discontinues Tomoe River series](https://www.pennoob.com/2021/06/01/tomoe-river-paper-discontinued/), [Galen Leather: Why Tomoe River Paper Is The #1 Fountain Pen Paper](https://www.galenleather.com/blogs/news/tomoe-river-paper), [The Well-Appointed Desk: Yamamoto Paper Writing Pads](https://www.wellappointeddesk.com/2024/01/yamamoto-paper-writing-pads-tomoegawa-tomoe-river-vs-sanzen-tomoe-river-s/), [MINIMARU: Hobonichi Techo 2026 Tomoe River Paper Review](https://minimaru.com/blogs/guides/hobonichi-techo-2026-tomoe-river-paper-review) ## Notebooks [Midori MD](https://md-product.com/en/collections/md-notebook) [Nanami Writer](https://www.nanamipaper.com/products/seven-seas-writer-a5-journal-6th-edition.html) [Leuchtturm1917](https://www.leuchtturm1917.us/notebooks/) [Odyssey Notebooks](https://odysseynotebooks.com/) [Galen Everyday Book](https://www.galenleather.com/collections/tomoe-river-notebooks/products/everyday-blank-notebook-tomoe-river-paper-400-pages-b6-size) *Bought and untested* [ZEQUENZ](https://www.zequenz.com/shop/) [Romeo notebooks](https://topdrawershop.com/products/romeo-notebooks) ## Notebook covers [The Superior Labor A5 Leather](https://www.baum-kuchen.net/collections/superior-labor/products/tsl-cover-original-leather-b6)