Pilot Iroshizuku Full Line (24 Inks)

[Pelikan_FP]

Brilliant overview of the entire line. Thank you for doing this.

 

The inks I like in order are: Yama-budo, Ku-jaku, Yama-guri, and Kon-Peki

 

Cheers!

[a m a r g o]

Well, here is a spreadsheet from a prior fade test.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aZnx0HqTLwmocX2rhk5rP1jUUCSzjA7CVrZX8gvKkWY/edit?usp=sharing

 

Hmm........ the spreadsheet doesn't imbed well.

Thank you!

[Koyote]

Which of the colors are best when it comes to lightfastness?

I like many of the colors, but I really need an ink in my work that can stand the test of time.

 

I have only two Iro inks - Tsuki-Yo and Tsuyu-Kusa - and both are very lightfast, more so than 6-8 other inks that were tested casually on a piece of paper left in my bright office window for a year.

 

But I must agree with some others that the ink itself is not worth the high prices...Maybe if you can find a bottle or two for under $20 (e.g., at Amazon right now), but not for $28. Diamine makes lots of great stuff at better prices.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Koyote

[mehandiratta]

amazing comparative... thank you so much

[Quadratus]

I am very fortunate in travelling to Japan at least once a year. As a result I have bought almost the entire Iroshizuku range (except for Kosumosu, which I find too pink for use, and Chiku-rin, which I found uninteresting as a green). A bottle in Japanese store costs Yen 1500, which is about £9 or $13, so a huge saving on the ridiculous prices pen stores charge for these inks in Europe. An alternative is to buy them on Amazon where Japanese sellers offer a bottle for £12 or $17, but the package usually takes almost a month to arrive, due to the slow speed of posting and processing at UK customs.

 

Still, it is really is worth having the full range of these wonderful inks. They have been described as the "champagne of the ink world" and that is, I think, absolutely correct.

 

My favourites are Asa-Gao blue, Tsukushi brown, Yama-budo red, Take-sumi black, Syo-ro deep green and Kon-Peki blue.

[KKay]

One of the best reviews I've seen thus far. I have only one of these inks. But I have another on my wish list.

[Aquaria]

 

I mostly enjoy Iroshizuku line but I dislike they're pricing politics. Premium brand should keep the price fixed (as, for example, Caran d'Ache or Graf von Faber-Castell). Pilot however sells their inks for around 10-13 $ in Japan and for 30 - 50 $ worldwide. They must be patriots. I guiess they just want to force people to buy online from Japan and not from their retaiilers

 

 

The pricing policies may not be within Pilot's entire control. As a former federal employee, I do know that customs or the USPS can be quite hard on some surprising imports from particular countries.

 

The US has an especially prickly relationship with Japan and its goods. We have no free-trade agreement with them, and, worse, there are several long-running, often obscure, import-export spats between the two countries. For instance, Japan outright blocks rice from everyone and they also restrict imports of most US cars, while the US blocks several Japanese cars from being imported and imposes a 40% tariff on Japanese leather goods and footwear.

 

While I don't know the exact particulars of US-Japan import-export tussles, it wouldn't surprise me at all if FP ink were a product that the US slaps huge tariffs on over some slight by the Japanese in another arena. Falling into one of these categories would definitely explain why Japanese FP inks sold here are so consistently out of whack from their price points in Japan, while European brands tend to be closer to their prices in their original countries.

We see some of the same things playing out with Pilot pens being outrageously expensive in Europe, but cheap here.

[Aquaria]

As for the inks, I have 7 of the colors in 50 ml bottles: Aji-sai, Asa-gao, Ku-Jaku, Murasaki Shikibu, Syo-ro, Tsutsuji and Tsuki-yo.

 

I also have one of the 15ml sets with three different inks: Kon-peki, Tsukushi, and Yama Budo.

 

Needless to say, I'm definitely a fan of these inks. Asa-Gao, Murasaki Shikibu, Tsukushi and Tsutsuji are my favorite inks in their color families. My husband's favorite all-time ink is the ever-popular Tsuki-yo. I like it, too, but not like he does. I think he'd dye everything in his life that color, if he could.

[dannystr78]

I love the Iroshizuku line and find that it is definitely worthy of the title premium ink. While I'm not crazy about every color, there are just too many that I can't live without nor can find anything that might replace them in another line. For me it's Tsuki Yo, Yama Guri, Fuyu Syogen, Kiri Same, Asa Gao, and Yama Budo. Also really enjoy Ina Ho. I think the thing that I love and perhaps others do not is that the colors are somehow saturated but subtle. They feel classy but relaxed. Just writing with Yama Guri makes me exhale and slow down. I do like Sailor as well but I don't have as many favs in Sailor as I do Iro.

[kelp cowboy]

I can't seem to stop adding new ones to my collection. Not only are they beautiful inks, they are also the best performing. They really shine with flex nibs and in pens with dry start problems with other inks. I have found that wiping off the top of the bottle after filling a pen solves the stuck cap problem.

[lumel]

Great review! I fell in love with Tsuki-Yo and it's become my signature colour. I even changed my e-mail stationary to match :/

[senzen]

I just re read this post, it's one of the most useful I've ever read. If anyone had told me before I got back into fountain pens I would ended up with a box full of expensive japanese inks I wouldn't have believed it. I'm kinda liking Ina Ho more and more, even though I've hit the limit of pens and inks and it might just be my last one; or perhaps Ambre de Birmanie.

 

It hasn't been a smooth ride, while iroshizkukus have been extremely well behaved not every pen gets along, I just finally managed to get Kon peki and Yama Guri in pens which show them in all their glory, one extravagant, the other very sobre.

 

While the jump from Japanese to US prices is big, it doesn't compare to prices in Mexico, they are currently going for the equivalent of $40 USD, which I find ludicrous.

[DrDebG]

OUTSTANDING REVIEW!

 

Truthfully, however, the Iroshizuku line is my favorite for color, but not for flow and texture. It is a wet ink, which I love, but it feels like I am writing with water regardless of the pen and nib I use. There is that subtle drag that is offputting. I also fully agree with Visvamitra regarding the pricing.

 

BUT, with that said, my favorite color is Asa Gao, with Ajisai close behind. I also love Yama-budo and Ku-Jaku.

 

 

I am eating my words now.

 

Exactly 2 years later and Pilot Iroshizuku inks have become one of my favorite inks. Because I have been able to get them at a reduced price, I have 10 of the 24 colors and could easily purchase every one. I love the wonderful flow and minimal lubrication of the ink. I do have a few pens that do not perform as well with PIroks as well as with other inks, but the majority of my pens perform extremely well. For me, they have perfect saturation - not too saturated, but not less saturated either. But then again, I tend to prefer a a slightly less saturated, less lubricated ink. And they clean up well with minimal staining. Yeah!

 

Also, I have recently started using Midori notebooks and the paper shows these inks to their best - at least as good as Tomoe River.

[KellyMcJ]

I have Shin-kai,Chiku-rin, Ajisai and Syo-Ro landing in my mailbox tomorrow. I'm really excited, especially about Ajisai. I think it's going to knock my socks off in a wet enough pen!

[ENewton]

A colleague of mine recently visited Japan and surprised me, upon her return, with a bottle of Ajisai.

 

I have been using it in a Lamy Safari with a medium nib, and its lovely. It really does convey the luminosity of Azalea petals.

[KellyMcJ]

The inks arrived today and they did not disappoint! Shin Kai is my perfect shade of blue black. Chiku rin is not too light as I feared it would be. Syo ro exceeded expectations in every way. It's a deep pine green with a hint of blue (I used a dip pen which is wet) and is very peaceful to look at. Ajisai looks exactly like I thought it would and is as beautiful as I thought it would be!

[KellyMcJ]

And I'm officially in love with Ajisai. I'll definitely buy a full bottle of this one when my 15 ml bottle runs out. I was afraid it would look drab in a fine pen, but it does not- I inked up a Wing Sung with it last night and it's amazing. Occupying that perfect space between blue and purple, where you can't quite tell which it is. It's captivating.

 

My only complaint is that, at least in a wet pen, it performs badly on cheap paper, which makes it bad for everyday carry. Because I was going to try it. It's just blue enough to pass for blue, although people would wonder if it's really purple.

[InkedPages]

Thank you for posting this resource, very helpful of you!

 

I'm in a similar boat to many here; I've loved each and every Iro-ink that I've tried. My main pen is currently inked with Ku Jaku, though Ajisai is generally my go-to. As KellyMcJ said, it teases purple just enough to leave people guessing. I'll also say that in my Pilot Falcon with a SM nib (which writes like a western F IMO) it does decently well on cheap paper. Definitely a bit more bleed-through than Asa Gao but not so much as to deter use.

 

Ku Jaku is a slept-on ink by many, I find. I didn't think I would like blue-greens but it has definitely wowed me.

 

Other favorite inks in the line are: Asa Gao (can't fault it for being a little less purple than the swatch when Ajisai exists), Murasaki-Shikibu (though more for a special someone who likes Purple than myself) and Tsutsuji.

[ManofKent]

The problem with Ku Jaku, is I like it so much, I'm hardly using other wonderful inks

[Jaydo]

Ive been a pilot ink fanboy for the entirety of my fountain pen purchasing spree. Kon-peki was excellent, best colour and flow I had in my ink collection. Chiku-ren, really good flow but not the most appealing colour. Ama-iro nearly beats Kon-peki. so close

Take-sumi though, shocked me, it didn't flow at all, it induced skipping in my Pilot Vp and my Montblanc 146 as well as 220.

When I first filled up my Montblanc and felt buyers remorse as it skipped constantly on my downstroke, i felt stupid. I contacted seller, he said swap inks, i was like "they're all pilot, there should be no difference... right.", turns out the montblanc 146 doesn't skip with any other pilot ink but the take-sumi,

 

Immense sadness as I've run out of Konpeki and nearly out of ama-iro. so either pale, mouldy looking chiku-rin or nice looking but bad for the writing Take-sumi. ffs, looks like my wallet is gonna get lighter once again, Im curious though if anyone's willing to buy the chiku-rin and Take-sumi. Maybe you enjoy the mouldy green or have a really pen that won't be as snobbish about take-sumi. fingers crossed