Moonlight of Hihashiyama – Kyo-iro | Wondernaut in the world of stationery wonders

To be honest I don’t know much about the company. Some time ago Algester posted topic about Tag Kyoto branch inks. The bottles and colors presented on their site looked nice so I’ve decided to try some of these inks. The inks are made by or for Takeda Jimuki company and are available in two lines: Kyo No Oto and Kyo-Iro. Kyo no Oto inks are said to be traditional japanese colors that has been used since heian era (roughly 1000 years ago),and expressing a tinges that have been nurtured in long history and profound culture for long time.

Kyonooto inks are:

Kyo-iro inks are:

Moonlight of Higashiyama is medium saturated light Terra Cotta ink. It’s not the wettest one in the series, I believe this one is driest but you can still use it. I would say it’s slightly wetter than Pelikan 4001 inks.

The color looks OK in broader nibs but in drier ones it looks flat. One thing that bothers me about it is the fact it tends to dry out in the nib if you leave the pen uncapped for, say, a minute. All in all it’s decent ink but if you enjoy such colors, I would go for Franklin-Christoph Terra Firma or Diamine Terracota if you enjoy saturated inks or some L’Artisan Pastellier sepias if you prefer subtler colors. They’re not necessarily better (it’s subjective unless we create and have time to really examine inks in standarised way) but are easier and cheaper to get in Europe and Americas.

As for other specs: no feathering, no bleedthrough, no water resistance.

The ink is dedicated / named after Higashiyama (東山区 Higashiyama-ku, meaning “east mountain”) – one of the eleven wards in the city of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.

Bottle

As all Kyonooto and kyo-ro inks this one comes in elegant box (most aesthetically pleasant boxes in the market IMO and glass bottle)