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Brand: Tombow Pencil Co.
Made in: Japan
Translation: "Special oil impregnated lead TOMBOW highest class Pencil for drafting 8000" (3H).
I assume this pencil was made from 1942 to 1945. In 1942, Japanese imperial government prohibited citizens from using the alphabet. Owing to that, degree of this pencil is shown in Japanese letters."?" (originally means hard) stands for "H", "?" (soft) = "B", "??" (medium)= "HB" These substitution ended in 1945. Thanks for the information, Yoshihiro.
This Japanese company was founded in 1913 and is still manufacturing fine writing instruments nearly 110 years later.
According to their website, “Tombow (tonbo) means “dragonfly” in Japanese and was often referred to as akizu/akitsu in ancient times. Since Japan was called Akitsu shima (dragonfly island in English) in the past, the name of the company also represents our desire to represent Japan's stationery industry.”
