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Anyone checking my various reviews knows Sailor is probably at the top of my list of favorite inks. But you may also know that red inks are my least favorite ink color. So I avoided this particular ink when it was re-issued in 2014 I think as part of the "Four Seasons" line-up. This is not a "limited edition" ink in any way, but part of the regular line, which Sailor is recently expanding. I bought this particular bottle at Fountain Pen Hospital in NYC last month. The manufacture date stamp on the box is September 2015. I saw some reviews and thought it might be good to have this ink. Burgundy colored inks I can like, especially dark ones line Sailor Pen & Message Old Burgundy. Anderson Pens called this ink a burgundy. Vanness calls it a magenta. I say it looks like a muted red that leans blue. And it looks nothing like the images on FPN in the reviews. Well that may be an exaggeration, but it's not as dark, and definitely not burgundy. Maybe if I'd used a wetter pen I'd have gotten different results, at least more dark red. Personally I wouldn't want to write a page of dense text with this ink. It might be suitable for correction, or marginalia. Maybe with a fancy nib you could get some special invitations written. The ink handles perfectly fine, just like nearly all Sailor inks. Just not a color for me. I probably could learn to like it, but the moment I'd write with another color I'd loose interest in this one. You may well feel differently, and if so, I hope you enjoy this ink. The usual paper suspects for me: Mohawk via Linen=MvL, Tomoe River=TR, Hammermill 28 ln inkjet=Hij. NOTE: Stains the converter lightly. Takes a bit of rinsing to remove it, but it does come off with just water. Not super waterfast. Washes away pink. A very interesting ink drop on the wet paper towel.

The other day I realized I had been seeing frequent positive references to Sailor Jentle inks for a long time and had never tried any. So I looked at the color swatches on a few vendors' web sites and ordered a couple colors. Choosing was not easy, because none of the colors appealed that much. Today, the first bottle was delivered - Oku-yama. I think that, because it was described as "Burgundy," and I'm not fond of inks in the purple spectrum, I didn't expect to like it much. But I like it a lot. It fits very nicely into the reddish-brown niche, which is one of my favorites. It shades really nicely. It goes down at the reddish end but dries at the brownish end of the range. It seems to dry pretty fast. It is totally well-behaved. Interestingly, it looks quite different when laid down by a broad nib from when laid down by a narrower nib. The only thing I don't like is that it gets so very dark where lines overlap. I think I will use this a lot. I am now more eager to get the other Jentle ink I ordered, Yama-dori. It might be delivered tomorrow! The larger letters were written with a Reform Calligraph pen fitted with a 1.9mm italic nib. The smaller letters were written with a Nakaya Naka-ai (Un-polished Shu) with a 0.7mm Cursive Italic nib ground by Mr. Mottishaw. (BTW, this ink matches the reddish urushi finishes really nicely.) Thanks all you inkophiles for bringing this ink to my attention! David