In December 2007 Pilot’s created exclusive line of inks called Iroshizuku. I believe they may well be the most well known fountain pen inks in pen world. These inks are supposed to work in any pen with any nib on any paper and in any situation. I haven’t tried all of them but so far the Iroshizuku inks I’ve tried were behaving flawlessly. The bottles are stunning although they have their issues: if the ink is left unused for some time the cap tends to stick and break when you try to twist it open. It happened to my bottle of Shin-Ryoku.
Anyway Iroshizuku line of inks counts 24 “standard” colors. Three inks were made some time ago for Tokyo stores: Edo-Murasaki, Fukagawa-Nezu and Shimbashi-Iro.After seeing the scans over blogosphere I wish these three were accesible, because they look interesting. Edo – Murasaki looks cool while Murasaki – Shikibu is of no interest to me. Even though I kind of like Fuyu-Syogun I find Fukagawa-Nezu more compelling.
Nothing indicates Pilot plans on extending the official line any time soon (if ever) so let’s take a look at what’s possible to obtain from dealers and online shops.
I don’t have all of the inks but sooner or later I’ll try to check them all. With time I’ll review all of them (hopefully).
- Ajisai
- Ama-Iro
- Asa-Gao
- Chiku-Rin
- Fuyu-Gaki
- Fuyu-Syogun
- Ina-Ho
- Kiri-Same
- Kon-Peki
- Kosumosu
- Ku-Jaku
- Momiji
- Murasaki-Shikibu
- Shin-Kai
- Shin-Ryoku
- Syo-Ro
- Take-Sumi
- Tsuki-Yo
- Tsukushi
- Tsutsuji
- Tsuyu-Kusa
- Yama-Budo
- Yama-Guri
- Yu-Yake
Chiku-in is for me Zen Color. It’s fresh, well behaved and calming (at least for me). I like this ink a lot.
Bottle
Ink Splash
Drops of ink on kitchen towel
Software ID
Color Range
Waterproofness
Oxford Recycled ( 90g, satined paper ), Kaweco Classic Sport turned to eyedropper, broad nib
Copy paper, Pilot 78G, Broad nib
Oxford paper, Pilot 78Gm B
Comparison (scribbles made with Kaweco on absorbent paper)
I like this one too. I bought a 15ml bottle to try, and it’s lovely and calm…Zen as you said.
By the way, cap from a 30ml Pelikan bottle fits the Iroshizuku bottle quite nicely if you need to replace a broken one.
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Yes, it’s calm green. It was, I believe, third green ink I’ve ever tried. At first I didn’t like it. But with time I started to really enjoy it 🙂
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