From ¥275 to ¥5,500 — the Kuru Toga spread twentyfold in seventeen years
The lead rotates. A little with every stroke, keeping the tip a cone. That is the whole of the mechanism Mitsubishi Pencil launched as the Kuru Toga in 2008.
Today that single pen has branched into seven lines. And the price span has grown twentyfold.
More choices behind one name than any other pen
The standard Kuru Toga offers 155 choices — barrel colours and pack variations combined.
That is the highest of all 2,464 product names on record. Neither the Zebra Sarasa Clip (136) nor the uni-ball One (117) comes close. No other Japanese stationery product has branched this far under one name.
From ¥275 to ¥5,500
Lined up by line, the spread is plain.
- Standard (2008) — ¥275–935
- Roulette (2010) — ¥1,100
- Pipe Slide (2015) — ¥495
- KS (2023) — ¥605–825
- Dive (2023) — ¥5,500
- Metal (2024) — ¥2,750–2,970
- Wood (2025) — ¥3,850
Cheapest ¥275, dearest ¥5,500. Twenty times, under the same name.
In 2023 it expanded in both directions at once
2023 is the striking year. Two models arrived.
The KS at ¥605–825 sits squarely in student territory, with 56 colours.The Dive at ¥5,500 advances its lead when the cap comes off rather than by clicking, and offers just four choices.
Down and up in the same year. One widened by colour count, the other narrowed and climbed in price.
The top end is being built out of materials
Metal followed in 2024 (¥2,750–2,970), Wood in 2025 (¥3,850).
A wooden-barrelled mechanical pencil at ¥3,850 is expensive by stationery-aisle standards. It does not reach the ¥8,800 floor of a Nohara Kogei wooden pencil — but it does mean a mass manufacturer has entered the wooden-barrel price band.
Meanwhile the ¥275 version is still made. The bottom has not been abandoned.
Choice count and price move in opposite directions
Set the number of choices against price and the relationship is unmistakable.
- Cheaper means more choices (Standard 155, KS 56)
- Dearer means fewer (Dive 4, Wood 2)
A product chosen by colour, and a product chosen as an object. Within one brand, two ways of selling sit side by side.
Which to pick
- Choosing by colour → Standard. 155 options, and the cheapest
- Carrying it loose without damage → Pipe Slide (¥495). The tip retracts
- Feel and finish → Metal, Wood, Dive
The rotating mechanism is the same in all of them. What changes is the barrel.
(List prices include tax, as of August 2026. Release years as recorded in PencilDB.)