Sailor Maruzen Nihombashi Fukurou

[white_lotus]

Not so long ago a message appeared in my inbox offering some inks from Japan. Of course this excited me, as these were re-issues of previous Limited Edition inks made for the Maruzen department store in the Nihombashi district of Tokyo. These inks are only available at the store, so they are very difficult to obtain, even more so than the usual Sailor shop-exclusive inks.

I wasn't really sure what this ink would be, other than brown in some respect. From the image of the box, it seemed like it would be a deep caramel hue, and this is not far off. The Fukurou has much less dye load than the Murasaki. It's very close to the Sailor Ishida Bungu Hakodate Curry, perhaps a little lighter than that ink. It is not as bright as the Akkerman #22 Hopjesbraun. KWZ Honey is another ink closely resembling this one in color.

Most of my review was done using a Pelikan M400 (F). This particular pen I don't think of as "dry" at all, but with this ink I really felt the flow wasn't as generous as typical for Sailor inks. I did try this ink in my typical "testing" pen, and Edison Premiere, and the flow there was better, perhaps what would be called "normal" by most people. The advantage is that you get more shading this way. It's also fairly fast drying on a number of papers. It may be that one has to match this ink to the right pen. But the general handling was very good as expected.

I have no idea if this ink is actually available even though it was only released perhaps a month ago or so. I don't know how many bottles were produced and available, whether any announcements were made about the release, or if any bottles were left at the end of the day.

The Sailor "vase" bottle was packaged in a tall Sailor box with a nice, heavy label. There was no label on the bottle itself or the cap. Apparently, only some bottles had hand-written labels. [iPhone didn't know how to capture the color of the label, too much red.]

 

 

Pen: Pelikan M400 (F)

Papers: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, TR=Tomoe River, Hij=Hammermill 28 lb inkjet, Rhodia=Rhodia 90g ivory.

Camera: iPhone 7

A very lovely color droplet.

The ink is not water resistant but doesn't flow so much with running water. After a few minutes on the paper blotting does lift a majority of the ink.

[Cyber6]

Love this colour... one of my favourites hues...

 

 

Thanks so much for the lovely review...

 

 

 

 

C,

[white_lotus]

Glad you're enjoying it as well!

[Jan2016]

Just heard that this ink may contain harmful substances for the eye!!!! I think you should get rid of it as soon as possible!!!! As a fellow FPN member I am more then willing to help you to get rid of this dangerous ink, so you can just send it to me and I will make sure it will be disposed of safely. You can PM me anytime....

[namrehsnoom]

A really nice brown - especially love the colour variation in the writing ... nice & subtle shading. Thanks for the review.

[visvamitra]

Stunning.

[cleosmama]

I really like that one. It reminds me of KWZ Honey in its shading.

 

As always, I love your texts for your samples, too. I keep a list of the poems you sample to go back and look at later.

 

Thank you for your reviews.

Edited April 5, 2017 by cleosmama

[Barkingpig]

I wonder what I am doing wrong? The only notifications I receive in MY inbox are PayPal invoices from Cool Japan for inks I have requested. I Must check the settings for my "Mail," I am obviously not connected to the right notifications!

 

Your review is, as always a PERFECT introduction to an ink I wouldn't have chosen if I were in the store the day it was available, based on it's represented color on the box. It is a lovely ink; I can however make do without bothering Mr. Tanaka to create an invoice for it.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Barkingpig

[white_lotus]

I didn't get this through cool-japan, but a personal friend who went to Maruzen Nihombashi store. I don't think they knew what inks they'd be able to get.

[Cyber6]

Just heard that this ink may contain harmful substances for the eye!!!! I think you should get rid of it as soon as possible!!!! As a fellow FPN member I am more then willing to help you to get rid of this dangerous ink, so you can just send it to me and I will make sure it will be disposed of safely. You can PM me anytime....

 

Yeah.. I heard the same thing.... How do you think I was able to get my bottle, I convinced my friend it will ruin his manhood to have it in the same house.... :lticaptd:

 

 

C.

[webgeckos]

I hope you don't mind, I just reviewed this and saw your review (Great minds think alike!) So I will append mine to yours.

 

My swabby comparison:

 

http://i.imgur.com/twVhG7N.jpg

 

All but the brown owl is done with a dip pen.

 

http://i.imgur.com/8F8AYp3.jpg

[webgeckos]

I wonder what I am doing wrong? The only notifications I receive in MY inbox are PayPal invoices from Cool Japan for inks I have requested. I Must check the settings for my "Mail," I am obviously not connected to the right notifications!

 

Your review is, as always a PERFECT introduction to an ink I wouldn't have chosen if I were in the store the day it was available, based on it's represented color on the box. It is a lovely ink; I can however make do without bothering Mr. Tanaka to create an invoice for it.

 

 

Mine was also through a good friend that went to to special event that had the reissues. My bottles aren't labeled but they are in the correct boxes.

[Jan2016]

@ Cyber6

[white_lotus]

Thanks for all the extra comments, info, and review!

[Sinistral1]

Nice looking ink - thanks, Cheryl!

[CobraKai]

Troll hair ink blots!

[fountainpagan]

The only Athena Maruzen ink I own (thank you Jessy ), and love the hue.

 

Thank you for this lovely and informative review.

[amberleadavis]

Wow, another great review and quite revealing about Cyber6 inkquisitions.

 

Thanks WebGeckos for the additions.

[jmccarty3]

The paper towel chromatography of this ink is fascinating. Thanks for a great review.

[cellardoor04]

Waiting for a bottle of this from a great friend! It is going to go into my M800 Renaissance Brown with an IB nib