This week we’re featuring Akebi fountain pen ink from the Sailor Manyo ink series. That’s right, another Sailor fountain pen ink back by popular demand! We’re not sure if people want to read another review of Sailor Manyo ink or if they just want another chance to win a free bottle of Manyo ink, but either way, we have you covered!

We’ve already reviewed two Sailor Manyo ink colors: Yomogi and Kuzu, so this week’s review will round it out to a solid 3 reviews of Sailor Manyo ink colors with the Akebi fountain pen ink.

If you aren’t already a fan of Sailor’s Manyo ink series, the newest ink series from this historic Japanese pen company, we just might change your mind. Whether you’re already a fan or not, you’ll find all the details you need on Sailor’s Akibi ink here. And, as always, you’ll get a chance to enter to win the bottle of Sailor Manyo ink used for this week’s fountain pen ink review!

All About the Ink Maker: Sailor

Mr. Kyugoro Sakata founded the Sailor pen and ink company in 1911. When a sailor friend brought a fountain pen back to Hiroshima from England, Sakata was immediately fascinated.  Sailor was his creation, enabling him to continually reach for his dream to create similarly fine writing instruments in Japan. Sakata’s dream became the foundation for one of today’s most reputable and prolific pen and ink companies. Not only was Sailor the first to produce fountain pens in Japan, but they are now one of the oldest fine writing instrument manufacturers in the entire fountain pen world.

All About the Ink Series: Sailor Manyo Ink Series

Sailor’s Manyo ink series is the newest ink series from the historic pen and ink company. The Manyo ink series is one of 5 ink series available in the USA:

• Manyo Ink Series
• Jentle Ink Series
• Basic Ink Series
• Shikiori Ink Series
• Pigmented Ink Series
• Highlighter Ink (part of the Jentle Series)

Sailor’s Manyo dye-based inks are made in Japan, but ONLY available in the international market (they are not available in Japan). The name Manyo is pulled from the Japanese Manyoshu, a compilation of 4,516 ancient Japanese poems. Throughout the poems featured in the compilation, flowers are mentioned frequently; some are popular flowers and others hold significance in Japanese culture. The Manyo inks were designed (and named) after 8 of the flowers referenced in the Japanese Manyoshu manuscript.

The poems were authored by various Japanese people of all ranks from Emperors to Farmers. The everyman nature of the ancient poetry is reflected in the Manyo ink series and its ability to capture the love of fountain pen addicts everywhere.

Pen Chalet is a proud, authorized retailer of Sailor products with a full range of Sailor inks, including the Jentle ink series, the basic ink series, the Manyo ink series, pigmented inks, Jentle highlighter fountain pen inks, Shikiori ink series, as well as Sailor fine writing instruments. Find your next Sailor product at Pen Chalet.

All About This Week’s Chosen Ink: Sailor Manyo Akebi Ink

Akebi fountain pen ink is a beautiful, bright purple color that shows up well on paper and is a solid choice for everyday use. Akebi is not a dark mountain purple. It’s a vibrant purple ink that is bright and full of life.

** Don’t stop now. Keep reading for a chance to win the bottle of Sailor Manyo Akebi fountain pen ink used for this week’s Pen Chalet Ink Review. (Or if you’re still cultivating the art of patience, scroll down to the bottom where you’ll find the link to enter this week’s giveaway).

Read the full review of Sailor Manyo Akebi fountain pen ink from Pen Chalet.com.

It’s Time: Sailor Manyo Akebi Ink Review

Are you ready for this week’s ink review? Let’s dive in to all the little details that will help you decide if Sailor Manyo Akebi ink is a necessary addition to your fountain pen ink collection.

Sailor inks are always a hit – we think it’s because fountain pen fans can count on them to be high quality and versatile. And while we’ve got several Sailor fans here at Pen Chalet, we didn’t cut them any slack during this week’s ink review. We ran this week’s ink through all the same tests we run every week. PLUS, you might notice that this week we added a new test to our review routine, the “1 Dip Test” where we test an ink to see if one dip is enough to create a full line of writing across the entire page without re-dipping the pen.

Read the full review of this week’s featured Sailor ink below!

Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):

We do a new fountain pen ink review every week – so it’s safe to say that we’ve done this a lot. And it became obvious in the early stages of our fountain pen ink experimentation that when you’re measuring or gauging fountain pen ink performance, the materials you’re using to conduct your tests make a big difference. So, you can depend on us to list the products we use each week during the ink review right here.

While reviewing Sailor Manyo Akebi fountain pen ink, we used a J Herbin spiral glass dip pen (which has a tip similar to a medium-fine fountain pen nib) on French-made Rhodia dot pad paper. Please remember that different papers and nib sizes may produce different results.

What Sort of Ink Bottle Does Sailor Use?

Sailor Manyo ink comes in Sailor’s new, square heavy-weighted 50 ml bottle. The bottle is display quality and the label and packaging for the Manyo line is simple yet elegant.

How Much Does Sailor Manyo Ink Cost?

Sailor Manyo Akebi ink is a high mid-range ink. If you’re interested in value pricing, check the current discount pricing at Pen Chalet.

How Fast Does Sailor Akebi Ink Dry?

Sailor Manyo Akebi fountain pen ink had a dry time of approximately 6-7 seconds with medium saturation; quick enough to be used as an everyday ink. (At Pen Chalet, we generally consider any dry time under 10 seconds to be reasonably fast, and appropriate for daily use).

How Did Sailor Akebi Ink Fair in the NEW 1 Dip Test?

Sailor’s Akebi fountain pen ink performed well during our newest test, the 1 Dip. Test. We used the one dip test to see how far one dip could write on paper. Dipping the pen into Sailor’s Akebi ink one time, we were able to easily write across the paper on all three writing samples with medium saturation. We used one dip per writing sample. Writing samples included: S, X and scribble lines (see photograph of the samples above).

Does Sailor Akebi Ink Bleed Through?

We saw no bleeding during normal use of Akebi fountain pen ink, and only slight bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test (at the most saturated points, which were really wet).

Was There Any Feathering While Using Sailor Manyo Akebi Ink?

We saw no feathering during normal use, and only some very slight feathering during the water test.

How Does Sailor Manyo Akebi Ink Stand Up to Water?

This week’s ink is not listed as a waterproof fountain pen ink, but we always include a water test in the review. (For the water test, we let an ink sample dry for about 3 minutes before running a wet cotton swab over the sample). During the water test of Manyo Akebi ink, we saw significant color smearing, which is expected with any dye-based ink. The lines were still very legible, and we noted only some very slight feathering.

Does Manyo Akebi Ink Have Good Shading Traits?

There are some really nice shading traits with Akebi ink if using a nib that allows ink flow variation like a stub or italic nib. We saw shades varying from a dark purple color to a nice, light, vibrant purple color.

Final Conclusion on Sailor Manyo Akebi Ink:

This week’s fountain pen ink is a creation of Sailor Pen Company, known worldwide for its fine writing instruments. The company has more recently become known far and wide for producing highly functional inks at a low cost. This week’s featured Sailor ink is from their newest line, the Manyo ink series and is a mid-range price ink. Akebi’s beautiful, bright purple ink color joins 7 others in Sailor’s Manyo ink series based on flowers mentioned in the compilation of ancient Japanese poetry known as Manyoshu. While Sailor Manyo inks are made in Japan, they are only available in the International (non-Japanese) market.

Sailor Manyo inks come in a large, display quality 50 ml bottle. These high-performance inks are easy to use, easy to clean and offer a reasonable dry time. Happy writing from Japan!

Enter to Win:

Enter to win the actual bottle of Sailor Manyo Akebi Ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:

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