Sailor Four Seasons: 8 Inks Compared

[radellaf]

Thou art all evil. In violation of the household budget act, I've ordered the top 4 rated of these inks for a little over $15 each. Rakuten was a little cheaper, but I got a deal on 4 of the 5 from a well respected USA seller (Sei Boku, Shigure, Tokiwa-Massu, and Oku-Yama). The Yama-Dori I've been waiting on Japan's slow boat since the 12th. It'll be a nice, satisfying set of inks that might actually show me some sheen even with my not so wet nibs and under-über paper. Half the whole set should (must?) do me.

 

My initial 2nd choice after Yama-Dori was Miruai, but I have a lot of green-blacks, including the real Epinard, Anderson's Green Bay, and both DeAtramentis and Diamine Green-Black.

 

Sei Boku is to satisfy my curiosity vs Platinum's pigment rose and blue (which mix to a nice dusky purple), and a minor collection of Blue-Blacks highlighted by Pilot's discount ≈$20 350mL jar.

 

Warning to all, even if money is tight, getting a special pen (Chartres 3776), and then a special ink or two, can open floodgates to "just one more order" that must quickly and firmly be shut. Four of these nifty, sheeny, pretty inks seem a good last order that I'm really excited to receive. I can only imagine Yama-Dori will get my vote (I don't have Ku-Jaku except as a sample, just the darker Tsuki-Yo) but we'll see.

[Hospitalier]

last order.

Tish & Pish, lol!

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640x360/p037kzj5.jpg

[jmccarty3]

What he said. ^^

[GeekyGirl]

Thou art all evil. In violation of the household budget act, I've ordered the top 4 rated of these inks for a little over $15 each. Rakuten was a little cheaper, but I got a deal on 4 of the 5 from a well respected USA seller (Sei Boku, Shigure, Tokiwa-Massu, and Oku-Yama). The Yama-Dori I've been waiting on Japan's slow boat since the 12th. It'll be a nice, satisfying set of inks that might actually show me some sheen even with my not so wet nibs and under-über paper. Half the whole set should (must?) do me.

 

My initial 2nd choice after Yama-Dori was Miruai, but I have a lot of green-blacks, including the real Epinard, Anderson's Green Bay, and both DeAtramentis and Diamine Green-Black.

 

Sei Boku is to satisfy my curiosity vs Platinum's pigment rose and blue (which mix to a nice dusky purple), and a minor collection of Blue-Blacks highlighted by Pilot's discount ≈$20 350mL jar.

 

Warning to all, even if money is tight, getting a special pen (Chartres 3776), and then a special ink or two, can open floodgates to "just one more order" that must quickly and firmly be shut. Four of these nifty, sheeny, pretty inks seem a good last order that I'm really excited to receive. I can only imagine Yama-Dori will get my vote (I don't have Ku-Jaku except as a sample, just the darker Tsuki-Yo) but we'll see.

 

You have chosen a nice collection of Sailor inks and given that you got the more expensive Sei-Boku, you got a fabulous price. Sei-Boku is simply amazing, especially in a wet gold nib, especially an italic. I see an interesting robin's egg blue in it, depending on the paper. Miruai is also a favorite, along with Yama-Dori of course, but I like Miruai because I see it more as an alternative to a mid-range blue black–sort of "money green." It's just different and is easy to look at on the page, for page after page.

 

With Yama-Dori I don't think you would ever want to reach for Ku-jaku–in my humble opinion. While both flow nicely in any nib I've used them in, Ku-jaku is just far too light, unsaturated, and uninspiring. Then again, I've never used it in a really wet gold nib to see if that makes a difference. Yama-Dori is saturated and has really nice blackish shading, no matter what nib it's in.

 

I also have, and love Doyou, and I discovered that using Doyou with Shigure, I can mix a homebrew version of Bung Box Ink of the Witch–for much cheaper, given that both of these inks were already sitting on my shelf.

 

Good luck with keeping those floodgates closed . . . Oh, and by the way, I think we're in the same locale.

[GeekyGirl]

Amazing comparison/review and your photos are just stunning. I need a bottle of Yama Dori now, but it's quite close to Emerald of Chivor, minus the sheen and gold speck, and I've already got the Chivor.

 

 

Yama-Dori has more sheen than any inks in my collection, but without the gold, which is a positive. Because of that, it's a much safer pen that I'm not worried about using in any pen that I own. Then again, I sold off all my J.H. Anniversary inks because they clogged two different pens.

[lgsoltek]

 

You have chosen a nice collection of Sailor inks and given that you got the more expensive Sei-Boku, you got a fabulous price. Sei-Boku is simply amazing, especially in a wet gold nib, especially an italic. I see an interesting robin's egg blue in it, depending on the paper. Miruai is also a favorite, along with Yama-Dori of course, but I like Miruai because I see it more as an alternative to a mid-range blue blacksort of "money green." It's just different and is easy to look at on the page, for page after page.

 

With Yama-Dori I don't think you would ever want to reach for Ku-jakuin my humble opinion. While both flow nicely in any nib I've used them in, Ku-jaku is just far too light, unsaturated, and uninspiring. Then again, I've never used it in a really wet gold nib to see if that makes a difference. Yama-Dori is saturated and has really nice blackish shading, no matter what nib it's in.

 

I also have, and love Doyou, and I discovered that using Doyou with Shigure, I can mix a homebrew version of Bung Box Ink of the Witchfor much cheaper, given that both of these inks were already sitting on my shelf.

 

Good luck with keeping those floodgates closed . . . Oh, and by the way, I think we're in the same locale.

Let's see your mix of Doyou Witch!

[Hospitalier]

Let's see your mix of Doyou Witch!

I have a mix of Doyou and Hieronymus' Green No.3 in development

[AndyYNWA]

Just noticed that my local online shop has increased the price for these inks from 135 SEK (14,35 €), to 195 SEK (20,70 €). I almost choked on my morning tea...

Luckily the shipping is quite low.

[BayesianPrior]

Just noticed that my local online shop has increased the price for these inks from 135 SEK (14,35 €), to 195 SEK (20,70 €). I almost choked on my morning tea...

Luckily the shipping is quite low.

So has Pure Pens..£10.75 up to £16.20 for the four seasons line. Brings them more into line with the other UK retailers. Basic colours are still £10.75.

[Pensei]

It looks like prices for this collection have *really* gotten out of hand:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00K565SVA/ref=sr_1_18_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1455761109&sr=8-18&keywords=sailor+inks&condition=used

[amberleadavis]

It looks like prices for this collection have *really* gotten out of hand:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00K565SVA/ref=sr_1_18_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1455761109&sr=8-18&keywords=sailor+inks&condition=used

 

If I hadn't seen it:

 

$99,999.00

+ $4.70 shipping

+ $0.00 estimated tax

[kpatters5274]

 

If I hadn't seen it:

 

$99,999.00

+ $4.70 shipping

+ $0.00 estimated tax

 

At least there's no tax?

 

I really like how, under the condition-- listed as "Used, Acceptable"-- this person wrote "So bad."

 

Edit: and I don't know how he's (she's? they're?) shipping it to you, but estimated arrival time is end of March- mid-April, from New York State.

Edited February 18, 2016 by kpatters5274

[majolo]

And the shop "Just Launched" too, off to a great start!

[haruka337]

It's likely a cute joke. When the condition is described as "So Bad", one must laugh a little.

[amberleadavis]

Well, I did order this from Rakuten for a lot less.

[Pensei]

I continue to enjoy this discussion, and since some of you kindly indulged my hand-wringing when I was trying to decide about getting the full set, I'll tell you the conclusion of my Four Seasons journey. My Miruai arrived today, on, as someone said above, the slow boat from Japan. I ordered it January 18, but it's actually an early arrival, as Amazon says look for it on March 10. Anyway, along with that I have Nioi-sumire, Souten, Shigure, and Yama-dori, the latter of which started this madness. I read some random rave review of Yama-dori, found it as wonderful as was asserted, and then each subsequent one was almost as good as the last. A nice surprise was Souten, because I had seen a couple of comments to the effect that if you couldn't get Sky High you might as well just use a ballpoint, but I love it. You notice I used the word conclusion above. I'm at peace with not having Oku-yama and Tokiwa-matsu, because I know they are nice, particularly the latter, but those are just not my colors. I'm vexed a bit about Doyou because it's one of those inks (somewhat as with Yama-dori) that it doesn't really matter how you react to the scans, you just observe the written enthusiasm of the users. But I think I'm going to stop where I am for the rather amusing reason that if I get one more, then my financial outlay will be what it would have been to get the full set. As long as I stay under that number, I am more at peace. But on a related point that may be of some slight interest, my tentative exploration of ordering these inks directly from Japanese vendors broke the ice on my concerns on that, and I have had a few very interesting and pleasant transactions in that manner. I may actually post something about that later.

 

tl;dr: Four Seasons inks are all great; get you some.

[akustyk]

 

I also have, and love Doyou, and I discovered that using Doyou with Shigure, I can mix a homebrew version of Bung Box Ink of the Witch–for much cheaper, given that both of these inks were already sitting on my shelf.

Would you share your proportions? This sounds like a great mix to try.

[oshizemi]

I wish I didn't have such sweaty hands... I'd try these inks.

[Aelie]

Thank you to all the posters in this thread. This thread got me interested enough to order samples of Shigure, Miruai, and Tokiwa-Matsu. So far I have tried Shigure and Tokiwa-Matsu, and they both certainly live up to the praise I read on this thread! I am looking forward to trying out rest of the line now.

[jojinkho]

I have problem with these inks. I have a botlle of Tokiwa-Matsu and Yama-Dori. I tried to ink my best performing pens - Pilot Custom 743 and Delta DV. If I leave these guys uncapped for 15 seconds, they won't start writing with this ink. I have to hard press on the nib in order to make it write (ultra fast drying?). On the other hand, I tested these pens with my other inks - I left them uncapped for 3 minutes (I didn't try more) and they write the moment they touch the paper.

 

Do any of you have the same issue with these inks? Everything else is excellent about them, just I can't get over the nib drying which is unacceptable in my usage.