Pen & Message Syuurushi

[mk2579]

Pen & Message: Syuurushi (Red Urushi)

Pen & Message is a stationary store based in Kobe, Japan. They sell some highly sought after inks including the holy grail Cigar; a colour-shifting, sheening ink like no other (apart from Sailor’s Four Seasons Rikkyu-Cha that you can purchase very easily and for a fraction of the price). Despite the recent reissue of Rikkyu-Cha, Cigar is still regarded as the No.1 ink by many- the ink of all inks. Plus since Cigar comes from Pen & Message it you get it in the cool diamond shape bottle- perfect for those with humoungous nibbed- fountain pens.

Because of the worldwide popularity of Pen & Message inks, you cannot purchase them directly on-line unless you live in Japan. So if you cannot buy them in person at their store you would have to use a forwarding service such as White Rabbit Express, which is how I got them. Be aware they are currently limiting ink purchases to 1 colour/person. I bought 1 each of the 8 piece set as follows;

1. Cigar (Brown)
2. Old Burgundy (Burgundy)
3. Quadrifoglio (Green)
4. Vintage Denim (Blue)
5. Saku (Blue)
6. Sanyasou (purple)
7. Suyuurushi (red urushi)
8. Fuyugare (grey)

Here is a pic of the Pen & Message inks;

*Picture taken from their website

Three of the inks were made in collaboration with Writing Lab namely; Quadrifoglio, Vintage Denim and Old Burgundy;

*Picture taken from their website

The ink I will be reviewing today is Syuurushi, as you can see it has very stylish packaging…

Here is the box...

…and the cap.

Syuurushi or Red Urushi from Pen & Message is a very unique colour shifting ink depending on the paper you use. Being an owner and user of urushi fountain pens from Nakaya and Danitrio, I love the idea of an ink based on urushi, in this case a red urushi. On the Pen & Message website, they describe the ink as follows (please note this is a literal cut and paste job from Google translate so…);

"Lacquer ware
I made it with consciousness of Hare's day. I imaged red and made it vermillion of my favorite Japanese lacquer so that I can use it everyday. The color changes slightly when writing and when dry. It is a vermillion that is more like brown than it looks in the image, and when you write it in bold you can enjoy shading."

 

This is a very nicely conceived ink, as described above, and the colour shifting is not only observable as the ink dries, but also depends on what paper you use. On Hobonichi TR paper Syuurushi has some characteristics of BunguBox Sweet Potato Purple with its purpley- tones sheening to green. In contrast, on Original Crown Mill white card it resembles the brand new BunguBox Ink of Narato, with its deep red and sheen to illuminous green. To me Syuurushi looks much more like the red urushi found on my Danitrios Genkai’s when used on Original Crown Mill paper and Rhodia paper. On Hobonichi TR paper it is much more pink/ fuchsia in appearance, as you will see...

Here is a writing sample on Rhodia reverse grid pad with a Jinhao X250…it has a surprisingly nice fine steel nib, though it was sold as a “medium”…

As you can see on Rhodia Syuurushi looks very much like red urushi. Here’s a close up of the writing sample;

A very nice red indeed. Here it is below with an actual red urushi fountain pen- the Danitrio Genkai in matt shu dame finish, a good likeness...

It is when you start using other papers that the ink starts to do strange things… Below is a dry sample on Original Crown Mill white mini note cards, this definitely has the look of BunguBox Ink of Naorato about it, with its other worldly green sheen…

Now things get really weird, the same Syuurushi but this time on Hobonichi TR Paper…definitely has some Sweet Potato Purple aspect to it, but even sheenier!

Here is Sweet Potato Purple just for confirmation of said similarities…ok SPP is definitely less pink and more purple…but sheen is similar.

A pretty incredible ink all round, but beware it can bleed through a bit on Hobonichi paper. To be safe I will use it exclusively in the Jinhao X250 I currently have it loaded up in. All in all Syuurushi is a very intriguing ink. A nice addition to my my Sailor ink collection.

Edited March 18, 2017 by kunju123

[lgsoltek]

Great review, thank you!

The last time I used this ink, I bought a Nakaya Aka-tamenuri to match it (well, it's not exactly the reason). LOL

[mmg122]

This is definitely my kind of red! Excellent review. Thanks kunju123.

 

Mary

[mk2579]

Great review, thank you!

The last time I used this ink, I bought a Nakaya Aka-tamenuri to match it (well, it's not exactly the reason). LOL

 

Uh oh don't start me off on the Nakaya's again...

Edited March 18, 2017 by kunju123

[mk2579]

Thanks! It's a great red for sure and I hadn't seen any reviews of it yet- though I'll go and have another look now...

 

This is definitely my kind of red! Excellent review. Thanks kunju123.

Mary

[ethernautrix]

Wow, that is an amazing, tantalizing red!

 

It's the first department-store ink (aka near-unobtainium) that has piqued my curiosity enough to wonder about using one of those forwarding services. (I probably won't, because I am lazy.) But WOW! I like it!

 

I also like a certain Danitrio urushi red -- it's the color that's most prominent on my Komori, but I'm not sure if it's the same as is used for solid-color Danitrios (urushi-only). It is a deep, gorgeous, dark red.

Edited March 18, 2017 by ethernautrix

[Chrissy]

It looks like a beautiful ink. However, P&M inks are 'unobtanium' for everyone outside Japan so I rarely look at them with a view to purchasing them these days.

[gylyf]

Interesting color, thanks for the review!

[chromantic]

I checked out White Rabbit 's web page after white_lotus reviewed Purple Rain but it was a bit hard to tell just what charges would apply.

 

Other than "I bought", you didn't say how you obtained the inks. Did you use White Rabbit? Out of curiosity, how much did each bottle cost with the shipping?

[white_lotus]

WRE really is most useful if you are buying multiple items from one shop. That way you can spread your costs and their fees over a number of items. And that's what kunju123 said they did. I know when I bought my P&M inks, it came to about $32 per bottle. Not terrible, but fairly expensive, as even in Japan you'd pay the equivalent of $24 just for the bottle.

[chromantic]

Thanks, lotus - I somehow managed to miss that all-important "which is how I got them". And I read it several times.

[mk2579]

Yep that pricing sounds about right- I also ordered them with three Ishida Bungu inks and 2 from Shosaikan.

 

Separately I also just received 2 more from Penland Cafe yesterday (Utsurigi and Penland Green).

 

I think it's fair to say I wont be buying any more inks for a while...fortunately I didn't have many inks before I ordered these, just a few Montblancs and BunguBox really, so thats my justification :-)

[mk2579]

Interesting color, thanks for the review!

No problem! I've been enjoying your hand written reviews too... that is you, right?

[mk2579]

Wow, that is an amazing, tantalizing red!

 

It's the first department-store ink (aka near-unobtainium) that has piqued my curiosity enough to wonder about using one of those forwarding services. (I probably won't, because I am lazy.) But WOW! I like it!

 

I also like a certain Danitrio urushi red -- it's the color that's most prominent on my Komori, but I'm not sure if it's the same as is used for solid-color Danitrios (urushi-only). It is a deep, gorgeous, dark red.

Thanks! Yep this is a good one, I wonder how it compares to Franklin Christoph red urushi, perhaps someone could post up a swab for comparison...

 

I'd probably advise against using a forwarding service right now not because its difficult to use but because its too easy...ALL of the Japan store exclusive inks seem to be in stock so you may well end up wanting to buy them all!

 

Your Komori sounds awesome- is that the one with the bat and the flashing eyes... I think I remember reading your review about it :-)

[mk2579]

WRE really is most useful if you are buying multiple items from one shop. That way you can spread your costs and their fees over a number of items. And that's what kunju123 said they did. I know when I bought my P&M inks, it came to about $32 per bottle. Not terrible, but fairly expensive, as even in Japan you'd pay the equivalent of $24 just for the bottle.

Yep pricy but for me worth it as all the inks I bought come in the diamond shaped bottles and my small collection is mainly Omas, Visconti which have massive nibs! They can't cope with the flat bottles.

 

These bottles also look super cool and take up less space with their smaller base.

 

*FYI I've been enjoying reading your rare Sailor ink reviews so your partly responsible for some of these purchases. Just sayin'...

Edited March 19, 2017 by kunju123

[white_lotus]

Me? Enabling?

[flyingfox]

What a gorgeous color!!! And aaaargh, they are out of it....

 

If you have a mailing address within Japan, the shipping is free if the total of your order is more than 10800 yen, which comes to exactly 4 bottles of ink.... I bought Quadrifoglio, Cigar, Saku, and Sanyasou, but would LOVE to get my hands on this one. Hopefully it will be restocked soon??!!

[visvamitra]

WOW.

[senzen]

Looks a lot like Rouge Hematite, very nice.

[cleosmama]

That's beautiful. Thank you for the review.