How well do you know that Sailor? Which one, you say? This week we’re talking about Sailor Manyo Haha ink. If you haven’t had much experience with this particular Sailor, we’re here to help you remedy the situation. Read the full Sailor Manyo Haha ink review, so you have all the details you need to determine if this particular Sailor needs to join your ink collection.
All About the Ink Maker: Sailor
Sailor is a historic, well regarded, and respected Japanese pen company. Sailor offers 7 different ink series that are available for sale in the USA:
Jentle Ink Series (Heads UP: This ink series has been discontinued, lingering stock remains, but won’t last long!)
All About the Ink Series: Sailor Manyo Ink Series
The Manyo ink series is the newest ink series released by Sailor. All Sailor inks are made in Japan, but Sailor Manyo inks are ONLY available in the international market (not available in Japan).
The name Manyo comes from the Japanese Manyoshu, which is a compilation of 4516 ancient Japanese poems. The text frequently mentions flowers prominent in Japanese culture. These poems were produced by all ranks of Japanese people from emperors to merchants to farmers. The dye-based inks in the Sailor Manyo series are inspired by 16 of the flowers cited within the ancient poetry.
Since Sailor Manyo Inks were first introduced, Haha ink has been both the hardest to procure from our distributor AND the most popular choice for our customers. This left Sailor Manyo Haha ink consistently out of stock for most of 2020. So many of you will be excited to hear that it’s BACK IN STOCK now!
If you’re interested in discovering more Sailor inks, don’t worry…Pen Chalet carries a full range of Sailor inks. Just visit PenChalet.com.
This Week’s Featured Ink: Sailor Manyo Haha Ink
Manyo Haha ink is a beautiful, light, but complex blue-grey color that shows up well on paper with the right nib and wetness. Haha is a low saturation ink (otherwise known as a dry ink). We enjoyed the complexity in this ink color with a dusty blue-grey color with shades of green and violet colors coming out (with the right nib). We find that color complexity comes out better with a wet broad or stub nib. Sailor Manyo Haha ink is a wonderful choice for notes, cards, and other ink projects.
***In a rush? Experiencing a decided lack of patience? Not in the mood to read? Well, never fear, we’ll forgive you if you skip the full review and just jump directly to the bottom and enter to win the bottle of ink we used for this week’s ink review. But try to remember to come back and read the full ink review later!
It’s Time: Sailor Manyo Haha Ink Review
This week we put Sailor Manyo Haha fountain pen ink through our standard ink review tests. Get ready for all the details!
Ink Review Testing Factors (to keep things scientific):
For our review of Sailor Manyo Haha ink we used a French made J. Herbin spiral glass dip pen on French made Rhodia dot pad paper. The dip pen has a tip similar to a medium-fine fountain pen nib.
Let’s Talk About the Sailor Manyo Haha Ink Bottle
Sailor Manyo Haha ink comes in Sailor’s new square heavy weighted 50 ml. bottle. In our opinion, the new bottle is inkwell display quality. The packaging and labeling of Sailor’s Manyo ink series is simple yet elegant.
How Much Does Manyo Fountain Pen Ink Cost?
Sailor Manyo Haha ink is a mid-range priced ink. Remember to check for the latest discount prices on your favorite pens and fountain pen inks at PenChalet.com.
How Did This Week’s Ink Fair in the 1-Dip Test?
We applied a one dip test to see how far one dip could write on paper (dipping the pen into the ink only one time). Sailor Manyo Haha ink easily wrote across the paper on all three writing samples. (One dip per writing sample: “S” “X” and scribble lines).
How Fast Does the Manyo Haha Ink Dry?
Sailor Manyo Haha ink showed a dry time of approximately 3-5 seconds during our review, which is super quick. This is a great low saturation ink that dries fast – fast enough to be used for just about any project.
Does Sailor Haha Ink Bleed Through?
We saw no bleeding during normal use, and zero bleeding during the heavy saturated cotton swab test.
Was There Any Feathering While Using Manyo Haha Ink?
We saw no feathering during normal use, and no additional feathering during the water test.
How Does the Ink Stand Up to Water?
Sailor Manyo Haha ink is not meant to be waterproof (but we found that it was actually very close). During the water test we saw almost imperceptible color smearing, and the lines remained very legible.
What About Shading Traits?
Sailor Manyo Haha ink has some really nice shading traits, especially if you have a nib that allows ink flow variation like a broad, stub or italic nib. While we were working with the ink, we saw light blue, with greens and purple hues coming out.
Final Conclusion on this Week’s Featured Sailor Ink:
Sailor Manyo Haha fountain pen ink is a mid-range price ink made by a well regarded and historic Japanese pen and ink company. The unique light blue color is beautiful and complex. Haha is one of 16 colors included in the Sailor Manyo ink series and it’s only available in the International market (which means it’s not available in Japan). Haha ink comes in Sailor’s large 50 ml. display-quality bottle, and has a very quick dry time. While Sailor doesn’t categorize Manyo Haha ink as a waterproof ink, we found it pretty close to waterproof during our review. As is the case with every Sailor ink we’ve tried, Manyo’s Haha ink is a high performance ink that’s easy to clean and use. Happy writing from Japan!
Enter to Win a Sailor Manyo Fountain Pen Ink:
Enter to win the actual bottle of Sailor Manyo Haha fountain pen ink that Pen Chalet used in this week’s ink review:
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The color is really interesting. I would like to see how well it shows that shading in a Flex nib or in my Medium nibs. I have never tried a “dry” ink before though. Will have to look into this one for sure.
Sailor Manyo series are one of my favorites, keep it up!
Currently loving the Sailor Nekoyanagi, always wanted to try Haha!
This is an ink I’ve been eyeing for a while! Glad to see a review and a chance to win it 🙂
I’ve seen this ink on so many reviews, and it gets more interesting every time I see it.
I’m feelin lucky this time, folks, and man oh man, does this blue-grey shine. Exactly my kind of color. I feel like the one thing that could be missing is a tiny hint of purple or red/pink sheen to throw it over the top for me, but that’s a beauty!
Sailor inks are wonderful. To me, HaHa is a delightful counterpart to Nekoyanagi.
Ha ha! Blue-Grey is a pretty variation of Blue-Black.
The shading looks really interesting!
What a stunning blue-grey that would work well for the office.
Its a Sailor ink. What more can I say?
I’d love to have this blue grey ink. My favorite ink of all time is Pilot Blue Black.
Oh my! This is an ink I’ve really wanted to try. I have Sailor Studio 123, which seems slightly similar, but Haha looks deeper.
I’m new to collecting pens and just learning about ink, this is definitely on my wish list. Love the blue, purple, green, my favorite colors.
I have yet to try any Sailor inks! Then newest manyo collection would be an ideal prize haha.