Iroshizuku Fountain Pen Ink – 50 ml Bottle – Kon-peki Deep Azure Blue (Japan Import)

I'd heard people refer to Pilot IRO inks as the "WD40" of the ink world, and I can see why. These flow beautifully even in problematic pens or dry pens and deliver pretty consistent performance in others. The only time I've shied away from this ink line is if working with a gusher of a pen or a broad nib as it can get away from you a bit. I'm actually amazed at how rich the color is considering its watery consistency and saturation levels which make cleanup after use super easy. No worries about staining - at least in my experience. The Yama Budo is one of my favorites in this line. A deep and rich burgundy with a touch of purple. I wouldn't necessarily refer to it as a magenta as it lacks that bright pinkish color. More like what I imagined a red wine stain looking like or what happens when you crush concord grapes skins between your fingers. The one relative con is that it's not at all water resistant. The easy in getting it off your pens and fingers also translates to the page, but I don't mind. In a fine nib, this rarely bleeds through even composition paper, making it my go-to for grading sessions.

I first experienced Yama Budo when I purchased a three pack of inks and it was included. At the time, I was mainly getting the three pack for a medium blue (Asa Gao) that was included and to try out a blue/black (Shin Kai) that I was interested in. I figured the Yama Budo would probably go ignored because it was magenta and I didn't see myself using a magenta ink too much (I'm a guy). Well, it is now one of my favorite colors! In fact, it is a LOT of people's favorite color. If you look at reviews and sales figures online you will see that it is SUPER popular. Not that going with the crowd is always the best way to go, but in this instance I believe it is. If you have never tried an Iroshizuku ink, you are in for a treat. These inks are ultra consistent and so far have performed flawlessly in every fountain pen I own. (TWSBI Eco, Pilot Metropolitan, Pilot Cocoon, TWSBI VAC 700R, Moonman, and multiple Jinhao "cheapy" pens from Amazon). As an aside, the Jinhao pens with silver nib and silver trim from Amazon are incredible for the price in medium nib, but the ones with a silver and gold nib and gold trim (in medium at least) are SUPER wet and just pour ink onto the page - avoid them, at least in medium.) One last thing about this ink is the beautiful, functional bottle. It is not only good enough looking to keep on your desk, but there is a divot in the bottom that the nib sits into to maximize the amount of ink you can get. It's a nice touch. This ink costs more than many inks, but in my opinion it is worth it. 5 stars all the way.

This Iroshizuku is a beautiful color, and it flows great. Very brilliant high-vis blue. Dries quickly without smearing. I use it in a couple of Dryden medium nib pens, and while it's hard to compare value for money between cartridges and actual ink, the color difference of the ink makes the cartridges irrelevant and seemingly dull. Very happy, this is my new ink, and I dont see any reason to change for writing.

Excellent ink and color!

This ink works so well and the color is perfect. The bottle looks like something that colnonge would come and looks great on any desk.

Iroshizuku ink by pilot makes some of my favorite inks. They flow well and the colors are true to the swatches. Especially great beginner fountain pen enthusiast ink.

So, I got ink samples from Goulet Pens and they had a gorgeous deep orange and I knew this would fit the bill when adjusted, because of shopping GP for stationery, fountain pens, rollerball pens, pencils, ink, etc. They actually are very knowledgeable, they ship very quickly, and any problem you have can be resolved. You can REACH them. Crazy. Anyway, the ink itself is a lighter orange on it's own, it handles beautifully, it's a fairly wet ink but I knew that I was going to mix in a little bit of my Higgins Black, which is not as wet an ink as this. It darkened the ink to a GORGEOUS burnt orange, perfect for your fall art and journaling, bujo people hear me, this mix will look really good on your page. It also means it's not quite as wet, which is good in this case as my main journaling pen (Faber-Castell Ambition with modified nib) writes a bit wet anyway. Now you know, color theory is your friend.

This is beautiful, vibrantly-colored ink, but the lid on the bottle is about the worst ever. The material is very thin and fragile. Needless to say, the lid arrived cracked horizontally along 80 percent of its circumference, and purple ink had spilled all over the papers and other contents of the box. I had also ordered the peacock-colored ink, and even though the lid remained in one piece (amazingly), ink had still managed to escape the bottle, and got on my hands and fingers when I tried to clean it up. At the very least, there should be a secondary silicone stopper inside the lid for shipping to prevent this sort of mess. Also, make a BIGGER stronger lid, perhaps adding a company design element you can be proud of.