Sailor Four Seasons: 8 Inks Compared

[VivienR]

What nib and paper are you using? The wider the nib and the more absorbent, less coated the paper, the more purplish-blue Shigure becomes, in my experience. Even a tad of shading. But, an in your face Purple or Blue, Shigure is not.

 

The name, after all, is evocative of overcast early winter's days when autumn has ended and full winter has yet to begin. An introspective time of year in Japan with dark clouds and light, drizzly rain.

 

Nothing fancy, plain papers. Used with a medium Duofold nib. Only a few occasions its showed its little purple content. Two days ago I cleaned, and such its got more water in it, showed a color, which I could imagine from it, like a dark night sky in purplish color. Anyway this doesn't decrease the fact that's an excellent ink. Like all Sailor ink so far I met.

[tinkerteacher]

 

Nothing fancy, plain papers. Used with a medium Duofold nib. Only a few occasions its showed its little purple content. Two days ago I cleaned, and such its got more water in it, showed a color, which I could imagine from it, like a dark night sky in purplish color. Anyway this doesn't decrease the fact that's an excellent ink. Like all Sailor ink so far I met.

 

If you want a brighter, more flamboyant (but less water resistant) version of Shigure without the black check out Diamine Bilberry.

 

One of these days I am going to try mixing Shigure with Bilberry and see what happens.

Edited March 25, 2015 by tinkerteacher

[Nibbler]

What a fantastic review - thank you! I have recently acquired the Doyou and love it - it's a more serious ink than the others, perhaps, but is fabulous for work, behaves extremely well and has a lovely organic feel to it. I'm contemplating the next one now... mmm maybe Souten I love a bit of blue!

[Hallel]

I am excitedly waiting for Yama Dori and Nioi Sumire to arrive in the mail this week. And after going back over this review I can see that I will probably add Oku Yama and Shigure to my list eventually. Although I am getting glutted of blue-blacks.

[tinkerteacher]

Lgsoltek, I'll have you know the following photo is all your fault.

 

 

After reading your wonderful review, I had no choice but to add the 3 remaining Sailor Jentle Four Seasons inks I didn't have to, Do-You, Oku-Yama, and Nioi-Sumire, to complete my collection of the series. Luckily, I now have no more money, so no more inks for awhile. I think.

 

Interestly, of the 3 new inks, I am liking Do-You the most. I had been missing a good not quite black, and, as you said, it is very wet and very lubricating. Do-You is great for my pitiful attempts at Calligraphy, and a great ink for Pilot's Soft nibs and the FA.

 

 

 

 

[lgsoltek]

Lgsoltek, I'll have you know the following photo is all your fault.

 

FullSizeRender-3.jpg

 

After reading your wonderful review, I had no choice but to add the 3 remaining Sailor Jentle Four Seasons inks I didn't have to, Do-You, Oku-Yama, and Nioi-Sumire, to complete my collection of the series. Luckily, I now have no more money, so no more inks for awhile. I think.

 

Interestly, of the 3 new inks, I am liking Do-You the most. I had been missing a good not quite black, and, as you said, it is very wet and very lubricating. Do-You is great for my pitiful attempts at Calligraphy, and a great ink for Pilot's Soft nibs and the FA.

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the club! Enjoy!

[fireant]

Lgsoltek, I'll have you know the following photo is all your fault.

 

FullSizeRender-3.jpg

 

After reading your wonderful review, I had no choice but to add the 3 remaining Sailor Jentle Four Seasons inks I didn't have to, Do-You, Oku-Yama, and Nioi-Sumire, to complete my collection of the series. Luckily, I now have no more money, so no more inks for awhile. I think.

 

 

 

I keep finding myself buying Yami Dori whenever I think about it possibly ending.

[tinkerteacher]

I have to thank you Lgsoltek for introducing me to Do-You.

 

It is fast turning into my go-to 'maintenance ink' with its awesome cleaning and lubricating properities. Got a hard starting, skipping pen? Run Do-You through it. Stubborn stain in a demonstrator? Run Do-You through it? Reluctant and stiff piston? New pen break-in? Do-You to the rescue.

 

Do-You is not really my colour so without this thread I might never have gotten around to discovering, that apart from beening a good writing ink, it is also an amazing pen laxative.

[lgsoltek]

I have to thank you Lgsoltek for introducing me to Do-You.

 

It is fast turning into my go-to 'maintenance ink' with its awesome cleaning and lubricating properities. Got a hard starting, skipping pen? Run Do-You through it. Stubborn stain in a demonstrator? Run Do-You through it? Reluctant and stiff piston? New pen break-in? Do-You to the rescue.

 

Do-You is not really my colour so without this thread I might never have gotten around to discovering, that apart from beening a good writing ink, it is also an amazing pen laxative.

 

Though not a colour I use a lot, Doyou is the best free-flowing ink I have among my 100+ inks. I'm glad you like it!

[GeekyGirl]

Me, too

 

Me three.

[GeekyGirl]

The Oku-Yama looks like a more useful version of Momiji.

 

I absolutely agree Lloyd.

[akustyk]

Thank you for the impressively detailed review!

 

I have Yama-Dori and Doyou, and love both. These are first-rate inks, with great flow, behavior, and colors.

 

I agree that something like the Apricot would be a nice addition to the series.

[haruka337]

This is such a fantastic review--it was the cause of my purchasing all eight bottles earlier this year.

[Dhruv_Sood]

I hope these are not limited edition inks, I plan to purchase all the 8 bottles in December this year, already have too much Iroshizuku inks lying around.

 

How would you compare these inks to Iroshizuku inks? I'm sorry if this has been answered in this thread before. Had to ask since Yama-Dori is so similar to Ku-Jaku. These bottles are great too until you get to the halfway point, so it's hard to pass on them.

[Dr. Saleem Ali]

Nice review , the inks are good ;other than red and blue are outstanding !

[Dhruv_Sood]

I pulled the trigger and ordered all 8 of them together. Any ink which is should get more than 1?

I'll order the bung-box inks in December. I don't like too many in that collection so it won't be a big addition.

[lgsoltek]

I pulled the trigger and ordered all 8 of them together. Any ink which is should get more than 1?

I'll order the bung-box inks in December. I don't like too many in that collection so it won't be a big addition.

 

Another person my review has enabled to get the whole line! Enjoy them! I find the autumn and winter ones more interesting.

[jmccarty3]

I pulled the trigger and ordered all 8 of them together. Any ink which is should get more than 1?

I'll order the bung-box inks in December. I don't like too many in that collection so it won't be a big addition.

 

The Four Seasons inks are not limited editions and should be readily available until Sailor decides to change the whole group yet again. The BungBox inks are going to be much harder to obtain because of the bottle issue and because they are not mass-produced.

[Dhruv_Sood]

 

Another person my review has enabled to get the whole line! Enjoy them! I find the autumn and winter ones more interesting.

Thank you. I am ordering from Rakuten so the order has not been finalized yet, I'll check the winter and autumn inks again and order 2 bottles for each of them. It's really cheap at $7.85.

Thanks for the comparison. I like dark inks, and kon-peki was a turn-off. Hopefully souten is as dark as it appears in the scan and photographs.

 

 

The Four Seasons inks are not limited editions and should be readily available until Sailor decides to change the whole group yet again. The BungBox inks are going to be much harder to obtain because of the bottle issue and because they are not mass-produced.

Thank you, I had looked around a little and figured out the same.

What's the bottle issue with bungbox?

I can't get bungbox before October anyway. The bungbox store in Japan has stopped taking international orders till October due to shortage of inventory.

I prefer to order from Japan, I find it a lot cheaper than ordering from US or retailers based in other countries. Plus, I live closer to Japan, hence the shipping cost is minimized.

[haruka337]

Thanks for the comparison. I like dark inks, and kon-peki was a turn-off. Hopefully souten is as dark as it appears in the scan and photographs.

Thank you, I had looked around a little and figured out the same.

I think you'll enjoy Souten immensely. It's much more saturated and a bit darker than shown in photos or scans, in my experience.

 

Allow me to recommend Tokiwa-matsu (to me, the real jewel of the line) and Miruai, the ink that set-off my love of green inks.

 

As for the Bungbox shortage: It appears that the bottle manufacturer of the signature diamond shaped bottles used for Japanese exclusive inks has gone out of business. Seems Sailor has found a replacement company to produce the glass bottles, but it'll be some months (early 2016) before Japanese exclusive inks (not just Bubgbox) are available again.