A favorite amongst Japanese pencil aficionados, Kita-Boshi is a 5th generation pencil maker. Like many a thoughtful manufacturer, it's a company whose ethos can be read in its aphorisms - from the founder, “A pencil sacrifices itself to serve people. Both humans and pencils need cores,” to the current president, "You can't write with a pencil unless you sharpen yourself. No matter how good the core is, if you don't sharpen it, you can't dream."

-Made from highest-quality cedar and cypress

-Each pencil writes about 50 kilometres (longer than a marathon!)

-50/50 combination of Vermillion & Prussian blue

-Round shape with gold lettering

-Box of 12

-Made in Japan