Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo Ink: Pilot Iroshizuku ink is know throughout the fountain pen community as being a high quality, yet expensive ink with a wide variety of colors. Although the price is high, the quality, presentation and exceptional bottle design make Iroshizuku ink on of the best selling fountain pen inks on the market.

This luxury ink comes from the Japanese world of nature and beauty. Each Iroshizuku ink color has a unique Japanese name with a specific meaning and the Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo ink is no exception. Also known as Crimson Glory Vine, this beautiful light purple, dark pink, magenta color is actually classified by Pilot in its red family. Although not a color many will use in day to day office environment, it’s a wonderful journal, letter personal preference ink color that will be sure to appease. Like all Iroshizuku inks, Yama Budo is dependable, easy to clean water based dye ink.

Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo Ink

When we tested this Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo ink, we found the following features, which may be helpful to you:

Testing Factors

We used a glass tip J. Herbin dip pen on Rhodia paper for our review. The dip pen is equivalent to an extra fine nib.

Bottle Sizes

One of the best features of Pilot Iroshizuku ink is the preeminent ink bottle in the industry, which probably increases the price of this product. Regardless of the price, Iroshizuku Yama Budo ink comes in a large 50 ml. glass bottle, which is actually a work of art. The heavy crystalline glass bottle has a visible internal dip in the bottom of the bottle, which allows the last drop of the ink to be obtained. Recently Pilot has introduced the Iroskizuku inks in smaller 15 ml square bottles, which come nicely displayed in a 3 pack. Each Pilot Iroshizuku 3 pack ink comes with 3 different ink colors, for those that want to spend a little more, but have 3 superb Irozhizuku ink colors in their collection. Yama Budo is also available in one of these 3 packs due to its high popularity.

Cost

Pilot Iroshizuku ink is known for its great ink, bottle, but also its price, which is at the top end of the market. Retailing for $35.00 per 50 ml. bottle, Yama Budo ink is not cheap. The 15 ml. small bottle sets (comes with three different ink colors) retails for $40.00 for all 3 bottles.

Dry Time

A great characteristic of Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo ink is its quick dry time, which is between 3-5 seconds. For this review we used a J. Herbin glass dip pen, which is equivalent to an extra fine nib, so expect a slightly longer dry time with larger sized tips.

Bleed Through

When the glass dip pen was at its wettest (upon first dips) we experienced a slight bleed through with the Rhodia paper. However, normal use produced no bleeding through the Rhodia paper.

Feathering

No feathering was noticed using the dip pen, with Rhodia paper and the Yama Budo ink.

Water Test

Pilot Iroshizuku inks are a water-based ink and thus not water proof or even water resistant. During our water test, where we ran a soaking wet cotton swab over ink samples produced substantial color smearing and feathering.

Shading

Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo ink has medium shading and color variation, especially with a larger nib size or stub nib. The wetter the line, the darker the ink color with more purple or Bordeaux coming through. The lighter the line, more pink hues will be seen.

Conclusion about the Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo ink

Pilot Iroshizuku ink is a luxury ink, on the higher end of the retail cost spectrum, but has good characteristics, being easy to clean, nice shading, beautiful expressive color, quick drying, wonderful for letter or journal writing. The glass bottle is really a display quality ink pot, that can adorn any desk or credenza. Enjoy!