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<noinclude>{{Infobox_Brand|Maruzen}}</noinclude>The [[Maruzen]] was founded in Japan in [[1869]] as an import company, importing various goods from Europe, and in particular it entered the fountain pen market as the Japanese [[Onoto]] dealer. But in an effort to cover also the lower end of the market, in [[1915]] it began assembling his own line of pens, called [[Orion]].
<noinclude>{{Infobox_Brand|Maruzen}}</noinclude>The ''Maruzen'' was established in Yokohama, Japan, in [[1869]] with the initial name of ''Maruya'' and was involved in importing books and dictionaries from Europe. The following year, founder Hayashi Yuteki opened a store in the city of Tokyo and in [[1878]] changed the firm's name to the better known ''"Maruzen Co. Ltd." (according to Japanese corporate law, ''"Maruzen Kabushiki Kaisha"'' and generally abbreviated to ''"Maruzen K.K."'').
In the early 1900s it entered the fountain pen market by importing pens as a Japanese retailer of [[Onoto]] and [[Waterman]]'s; in the late 1910s, ''[[Maruzen]]'' decided to also start a production of pens under its own brand name, using the brand names ''"[[Albion]]"'' and ''"[[Maruzen Orion|Orion]]"'', made of black chased hard rubber with eyedropper filler.
In [[1919]] ''Maruzen'' launched what would be the longest-running fountain pen line in its history, the ''"[[Athena]] The Pen"'' (which later became simply [[Athena]]). The very first [[Athena]] produced were black chased hard rubber pens with either eyedropper filler or security eyedropper (safety pen type) and later were also produced twist filler and lever filler fountain pens. From the mid-1930s are the [[Athena Renaissance]], made of smooth ebonite usually coated with a layer of ''[[urushi]]'' lacquer, made with twist filler or eyedropper filler.
The [[1937]] is the year when ''[[Maruzen]]'' took over the factory in which their branded pens had been made until then and thus began their own production.
At the end of the war, a new factory was built near Tokyo (the previous one had been destroyed by the war events), and fountain pens in the [[Athena]] line underwent a new restyling in the 1950s: alongside the classic ebonite and lacquer ''[[urushi]]''' fountain pens, there were those made of colored [[celluloid]] or transparent plastic, and the caps began to be made of gold or nickel-plated metal.
Fountain pen production seemed to stop in the early 1960s, probably due to the introduction of ballpoint pens, but in recent years ''Maruzen'' has come out with customized and/or limited edition fountain pens (with its own brand name added), produced from time to time by well-known companies such as [[Pilot]], [[Sailor]] and [[Platinum]], and also with European houses such as [[Pelikan]]. It continued the sale of Athena Ink brand inks, some of which were made, for example, by [[Sailor]].
Today ''Maruzen'' is a large book and stationery material chain, spread throughout Japan with about fifty outlets.
==External references==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130720025737/http://www.maruzen.co.jp:80/corp/en/aboutus/history.html] Company history from its old website
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130720025737/http://www.maruzen.co.jp:80/corp/en/aboutus/history.html] Company history from its old website
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050502010013/http://www.pentrace.net:80/penbase/Data_Returns/full_article.asp?id=357&tname=Ron+Dutcher+on+Pens] A page with a bit of the company history
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050502010013/http://www.pentrace.net:80/penbase/Data_Returns/full_article.asp?id=357&tname=Ron+Dutcher+on+Pens] A page with a bit of the company history
<noinclude>{{BrandData|Founder=Yuteki Hayashi|Date=1869|ProdDate=1915|Place=Yokohama|Country=JP}}
* [https://forum.fountainpen.it/viewtopic.php?t=32073] Detailed presentation on the forum with many historical notes
<noinclude>{{BrandData|Founder=Yuteki Hayashi|Date=1869|ProdDate=1915|Place=Yokohama|Country=JP|Trademarks=Athena,Albion,Maruzen Orion}}
{{CategorizeBrand|Giappone|Secondary brand}}</noinclude>
{{CategorizeBrand|Giappone|Secondary brand}}</noinclude>