Sailor Four Seasons: 8 Inks Compared

March 19, 2016

I have problem with these inks. I have a botlle of Tokiwa-Matsu and Yama-Dori. I tried to ink my best performing pens - Pilot Custom 743 and Delta DV. If I leave these guys uncapped for 15 seconds, they won't start writing with this ink. I have to hard press on the nib in order to make it write (ultra fast drying?). On the other hand, I tested these pens with my other inks - I left them uncapped for 3 minutes (I didn't try more) and they write the moment they touch the paper.

Do any of you have the same issue with these inks? Everything else is excellent about them, just I can't get over the nib drying which is unacceptable in my usage.

I actually don't really know, haven't thought about if they dry quicker than other inks. I almost always cap my pens as soon as I stop writing with them, that probably the reason I haven't noticed.

March 19, 2016

If anything I find Sailor inks are less apt to dry in the nib quickly, than more apt to do so. I rarely let ink sit in a pen uncapped for more than a minute though.

March 21, 2016

Thanks for the review. Great and very complete (must be fun to do as well I guess).

It looks like a great set and it is difficult to single one ink out, but I guess Oku-Yama is my favorite.

September 18, 2016

Well, I have now tried both Shigure and Tokiwa-Massu. And I must say that both of these are extremely saturated inks, because I have been refilling the pens they're in with distilled water (in the case of Shigure more than once!) and am still getting a fair amount of color when I write with them. Have not yet tried the other samples I got -- I'm trying to pare down what pens are currently in rotation at the moment.
Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I finally bought a bottle of Sailor ink, Shigure, and just filled a Pilot Prera with it. I like the color as it is, but I also love the idea of refilling with distilled water and continuing to write. I especially appreciate getting multiple effects from the same ink, depending on pen and paper, but this sounds like another interesting way to experience variation with a single ink.

November 27, 2016

Tokiwa-Matsu is a lovely pine green (starts off dark and becomes lighter as the ink dries). It is my second favourite green after the recently re-introduced sailor jentle rikyu-cha.

Shigure is a lovely dark purple black, the darkest purple in my purple collection.

Doyou is a very dark brown, can be considered interesting shade of black. Another feature worth buying is that it appears to be the most lubricating of inks, and can even remove stains.

November 27, 2016

Only two Sailor inks haven't done it for me so far. Shigure and DoYou. I got samples of these a good while back. Shigure gave me hard starts, and I didn't love the color. DoYou was too dark brown for me. I find I prefer reddish browns to write with. My top 3 favorites so far are:

Yama-dori, Oku-yama, and Tokiwa-matsu. I do find Tokiwa-matsu to be a bit dry in some pens, but the color is incredible.

December 1, 2016

Well Yama-Dori will join soon my Sailor collection. Thinking about Miruai too, but I rarely using greens....

December 2, 2016

I like Miruai very much Vivien. It runs on the wet side for me. It is a much darker green, and sometimes can look black from a distance. That depends on your pen, and paper. I loved putting it in pens that tend to run a little dry. I find the color pleasing, but it isn't my favorite green.