Sailor Sankodo Kinshi Black Purple Nishikisan

[white_lotus]

By now, you know me, the old Sailor bespoke ink pusher, I mean, enabler, with yet another exotic ink from Japan. I must say that I am certainly lucky to have this ink, as this particular shop ceased internet sales when the "craze" hit. I can understand the shop owners not wanting to deal with such a situation. So now you must purchase these inks at their shop in person. Last year someone on the forum was reducing the size of their Sailor collection and I was able to obtain two inks from the Sankodo shop. This one and another to be reviewed shortly.

I'm not exactly sure of the Japanese part of the name. When I bought this ink, the seller called it Nishibisan Black Purple, or at least that's what I have written down, but the web page for Sankodo calls this Kinshi (Kin) Black Purple. Perhaps someone with Japanese language skills can decipher that for us. I suspect the word Nishibisan is incorrect, as even google presents a mere nine entries for that term.

This ink could be BB Ink of Witch's sister. It is a very dark purple with incredible flow and really good lubrication. In some of the pictures the camera just said "I guess that's black". Depending on the light and its angle the ink will appear either black or purple. On some papers the purple tends to dominate, while on others it'll appear more black. But when you look it's purple.

The handling is very good, but because of the dye load you may get some show through on more absorbent papers. Not water resistant, especially with so much dye to flow all over the place.

As I say, I don't think you can obtain these outside Japan, even with a forwarder, though perhaps there are sellers who are able to visit the store for you. So better just to read 'em and weep.

Pen: Edison Premiere (F-steel)

Papers: MvL=Mohawk via Linen, TR=Tomoe River, Hij=Hammermill 28 lb inkjet, Rhodia=Rhodia 90g ivory.

Camera: iPhone 7

[namrehsnoom]

Nice review. As for the ink, not my thing. It's too saturated for my taste. Reminds me of Diamine 1864 Blue-Black which also has this oversaturated feel to it.

[tealeaf_egg]

Beautiful ink! It seems that you were a victim of rushed handwriting; the label on the bottle says in Japanese that the ink is named "Nishikisan Black Purple". Nishikisan is an entertainment district (by which I mean geishas and stuff) in Nagoya, the city where this ink can be bought. The district is also called Kinsan for short (the kanji 錦 can be read as "nishiki" or "kin") and that is the name that Sankodo is using on the website when I look at it. Thank you for the review!

[lapis]

Fantastic ink. I love it. My favorite color... a purple-black (overriding a blue-black)... wet and lubed, too.

But no deal. What I hate is this type of sale (i.e. disposition/availability). If they manage to make it so difficult to get, I just say "No problem", and cut it, here and now.

 

[Ghost Plane]

My kind of color! Too bad it will be unobtainable as it would be fun to see what my big nibs could push it to do.

[white_lotus]

Thank you tealeaf_egg for the explanation of the name!

[athenian]

It kinda looks like Sailor Shigure, which is a great ink.

[Mew]

@white_lotus: I called it "Nishikisan Black Purple". The reasoning provided above is correct. If you go by the google translate name of the ink, then you'll get a new name for this ink every 6 months.

 

It's a very nice colour, and I have proceeded to order 2-3 more bottles ever since it became easier to order from them.

I prefer this over "Ink of the witch", even though both colours are 90% same.

[senzen]

Don't like the ink, always enjoy your reviews!

[white_lotus]

@white_lotus: I called it "Nishikisan Black Purple". The reasoning provided above is correct. If you go by the google translate name of the ink, then you'll get a new name for this ink every 6 months.

 

It's a very nice colour, and I have proceeded to order 2-3 more bottles ever since it became easier to order from them.

I prefer this over "Ink of the witch", even though both colours are 90% same.

 

I probably misspelled the name when I wrote it on my list, or couldn't read my own handwriting later on. Good to have it correct.

[amberleadavis]

Tea_Leaf, thank you. WhiteLotus, this is one of my favorite inks. Thank you for the wonderful review.

[saskia_madding]

I think this is my favourite Sailor purple, and much less dark in my experience than BB Ink of the Witch. <3 Thanks for the lovely review!

[domzals1]

This ink is right up my alley, simply stunning. I am indeed reading and weeping. Thanks for the review!

[mongrelnomad]

I'd love to see a comparison between this, Ink of Witch, and Hougado Deep Purple Black.

 

As I have the other two, I'd suggest you send me your bottle...

[white_lotus]

I actually have Ink of Witch. It's more black than this ink.

[inkstainedruth]

This one looks interesting. Thanks for the review. And, well, not....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bhavna]

What a beautiful ink! How close is it for Shigure? Thank you for your wonderful review.

[white_lotus]

Shigure is lighter, this is darker, clearly so in person.

[mongrelnomad]

I've ordered this. I'll soon have the possibility of side-by-side scans with Shigure, Ink of Witch, and Deep Purple Black...

[amberleadavis]

I'd love a letter when you are doing the scans. You might also want to consider Private Reserve Ebony Purple. It's a wonderful dark purple / black with a different sheen.