The Paper Plane : Tomoe River 52 gsm (Sanzen vs Original)

[namrehsnoom]

The Paper Plane – Tomoe River 52 gsm (Sanzen vs Original)

 
 
I've been enjoying this little corner of the web for some time now, mainly focusing on inks and pens. But these are more or less useless without the humble paper or notebook that will let you capture your thoughts.  So here comes the "Paper Plane", where I review some of the paper and notebooks that I've enjoyed using over the years. Today I do a short comparison of the Original Tomoe River paper versus the new Sanzen Tomoe River (both 52 gsm).

 
My stock of original Tomoe River paper is rapidly vanishing, so recently I got me a 50-sheet pack of the new Sanzen Tomoe River 52 gsm. I thought it would be fun to do a quick comparison between the two. Is the new Sanzen version a clone of the Original Tomoe River, and if not, what are the differences.

The picture below gives a side-by-side comparison of the new vs old Tomoe River paper. 

 

 

 

Short conclusion: both papers share the same name and gsm, but that’s where the likeness ends. But instead of complaining that the Sanzen Tomoe River is nothing like the Original version, I will point out the differences and pros-and-cons of both papers.

 

• Feel of the paper: although they are both 52 gsm, you will immediately feel the tactile differences between the two. The Original TR is very flimsy, and wrinkles easily. In contrast the Sanzen TR feels more sturdy and solid.
• Feel of pen on paper: writing on the Original TR is very smooth… your pen really glides across the page. In contrast, Sanzen TR gives some feedback, and you will definitely feel the paper while writing. Not scratchy at all, but there is a bit more resistance than what you get with the Original TR paper.
• Ink colour: it will probably not show in the picture, but my eye perceives the colour to be a touch cooler on the Sanzen TR.
• Ink spread: the ink spreads a little less on the Sanzen TR compared with the Original. This results in a crisper line. Not necessarily a finer line, but more one with more sharply defined edges. In this respect, I prefer the new Sanzen version over the Original.
• Ink sheen: the Original TR is well-known for its high sheen factor. The new Sanzen version offers much less of a sheening experience. I feel that more ink is absorbed into the paper, while with the Original TR more ink remains at the surface. 
• Drying times: the Original TR has fairly long dry times (compared with other papers). The new Sanzen version has the same characteristic, but inks do dry a bit faster on it in comparison with the Original TR. Probably due to the fact that ink is absorbed more into the paper compared with the original.
• See through: Sanzen TR not only feels more substantial (for the same gsm), but you also get less see-through compared to the Original TR. Makes it a bit more enjoyable to use both sides of the page in a notebook.
• Bleed through: both papers are really bleed-resistant, but if you try hard enough, you can always get bleed-through. With the new Sanzen TR, you will get bleed-through faster than on the original TR. In the writing sample above, I tested this with the two squares at the bottom of the page. I filled both squares exactly 5 times with ink. I immediately felt that the fibers are less densily packed on the Sanzen paper. And looking at the backside, you will notice that the Sanzen version shows more bleed-through.

 

Below is a picture of the backside of the writing samples (Sanzen TR on the left, Original TR on the right):

 

 

Conclusion
Although the new Sanzen paper shares the same name and gsm with the Original Tomoe River, it definitely is a different beast. That being said, the new version really can stand on its own. In some respects it’s worse than the original, in other respects it is definitely better. Personally I think that Sanzen TR is an excellent fountain-pen friendly paper. Overall, a nice addition to my set of test papers. I will definitely add it to the papers I use in my ink reviews.
 

[fireant]

Thank you for the great review.

It looks like the ink looks a little bit better on the Sanzen. /eyes my old TR and hope it doesn't hear me.

 

[LizEF]

Thank you, @namrehsnoom!  I appreciate the perspective of a trusted source such as yourself.   (And I have a really hard time keeping track of the various names of this paper...)

[XYZZY]

Thanks @namrehsnoom for the review.  This makes me look forward to getting some of the Sanzen paper.  The differences I value in favor of Sanzen, except maybe the slightly reduced sheening, but I'm not interested in sheen enough to want to maximize it so I don't care about that bit.

[mizgeorge]

Fab review - thank you @namrehsnoom as always.

[migo984]

Thanks for the review & your thoughts on the two papers.

 

I have to say I was really enjoying Sanzen ‘S’ Tomoe - until this week. I was writing a letter on loose A4 sheets and as I finished the verso of a sheet, suddenly realised that the ink had seeped through the paper so badly that the words on the front were rendered  illegible. The ink was Lamy Dark Lilac, so fairly saturated, but it didn’t do this on original Tomoegawa paper.

 

The paper was from Yamamoto, bought last year shortly after release. So I thought it might be a problem with an early batch. I  therefore tried it in a more recent Sanzen ‘S’ notebook. Same problem. And it happened with 3 other inks.  Sanzen paper really doesn’t like saturated inks.  

[fireant]

1 hour ago, migo984 said:

The paper was from Yamamoto, bought last year shortly after release. So I thought it might be a problem with an early batch. I  therefore tried it in a more recent Sanzen ‘S’ notebook. Same problem. And it happened with 3 other inks.  Sanzen paper really doesn’t like saturated inks.  

 

 

Ouch that not good news for me.

[namrehsnoom]

1 hour ago, migo984 said:

Sanzen paper really doesn’t like saturated inks.  

That’s interesting info! Can you share the 3 other inks you found issues with? (Might be that I have a sample of them, so I could check out this behaviour). 

I almost exclusively use low-saturation inks, and so far haven’t encountered the seep-through behaviour you mentioned.

[XYZZY]

17 hours ago, migo984 said:

Thanks for the review & your thoughts on the two papers.

 

I have to say I was really enjoying Sanzen ‘S’ Tomoe - until this week. I was writing a letter on loose A4 sheets and as I finished the verso of a sheet, suddenly realised that the ink had seeped through the paper so badly that the words on the front were rendered  illegible. The ink was Lamy Dark Lilac, so fairly saturated, but it didn’t do this on original Tomoegawa paper.

 

The paper was from Yamamoto, bought last year shortly after release. So I thought it might be a problem with an early batch. I  therefore tried it in a more recent Sanzen ‘S’ notebook. Same problem. And it happened with 3 other inks.  Sanzen paper really doesn’t like saturated inks.  

Oh no.  To me one of the best things of TR paper is that it Just Works.  Bleedthrough is super rare, so rare that you forget to even think about it until using some other papers. (Within my limited ink collection)

[migo984]

On 4/22/2023 at 11:49 PM, namrehsnoom said:

That’s interesting info! Can you share the 3 other inks you found issues with? (Might be that I have a sample of them, so I could check out this behaviour). 

I almost exclusively use low-saturation inks, and so far haven’t encountered the seep-through behaviour you mentioned.

The three inks are:

 

Kuretake Shikon, Pentonote Turezurenoiro (Letters from Fukushima No. 4) and Pen & Message Writing Lab Old Burgundy.

[TSherbs]

Thanks for this review. Both versions appear excellent in overall quality, despite the variations.

[fireant]

23 hours ago, migo984 said:

The three inks are:

 

Kuretake Shikon, Pentonote Turezurenoiro (Letters from Fukushima No. 4) and Pen & Message Writing Lab Old Burgundy.

Dang we have similar taste in inks!

 

Oof I have a bottle of Old Burgundy but I've never opened it. 

Pentonote Turezurenoiro (Letters from Fukushima No. 4) I have a graphilo note books (the one with all the Kobe inks on the cover) with no bleed through, I'll try it with a dip pen tonight.