Pen & Message Sanyasou

[mk2579]

Pen & Message is a stationary store based in Kobe, Japan. They sell some highly sought after inks. Due to the worldwide popularity of Pen Pen & Message inks, you cannot purchase them directly. 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. In pursuit of my bottle of Pen & Message Cigar in the Spring of 2017 I decided to get the other 7 colours in the P&M set, 4 inks from Ishida Bungu, as well as two from Shosaikan. My thinking being if I spread the cost of shipping over more bottles of ink I’ll actually be saving money(!). With hindsight I think it would have made more sense to buy a number of bottles at each store, and not mix multiple stores up in the same order. That way you can also spread your ink purchases out throughout the year.

Here is my order all jumbled together and spread over two pictures. A normal person would have taken groups shots of Pen & Message, Ishida Bungu and Shosaikan separately. Not me...

...and the rest.

Please be aware Pen & Message 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)

The ink I will be reviewing today (I'll be honest it's mainly just pictures...) is Sanyasou. Here is the bottle...

Here is the box...

and the cap...

Sanyasou is a purple/ violet ink in a similar vein to Pilot Iroshizuku’s Murusaki Shikubu or Japanese Beautyberry. I believe its botanical name is Callicarpa japonica and looks a bit like this...

Purple isn’t one of my favourite colours, but this ink tends more to the blue/indigo range so I actually like it very much. I think it is a nice saturated alternative to boring blue ( I have waaaay to many blue inks, mainly because so many of them sheen). Speaking of which, this ink sheens- a LOT. I was surprised by this as I have not heard of a purple ink that sheens other than Lamy Dark Violet, which unfortunately sold out before I could buy it, and Cross Violet.

Sanyasou has a wicked gold sheen that can look more coppery depending on how much ink you have pooled on up on the page. Here are a few close ups of the ink on Hobonichi TR paper. As you can see the sheen is VERY pronounced. It’s a sheen thats comes very easily, which is awesome

A close up of the ink swabs…

Here is a writing sample on Hobonichi TR paper...

A view of the Omas Princess Blue Royale I used to write it with- it is a perfect match for this inks. The Blue Royale celluloid is known for oxidising to a purple-indigo colour. I think this pen was made for this ink. It also happens to have the wickedest stubby “Medium” nib, which is really more like a juicy Broad. Here it is...

Rhodia sheening ink blob...

Here is a comparison with Iroshizuku Murusaki-Shikubu and Kingdom Note jellyfish series Thysonastoma Thysanura (actually not at all similar), on original Crown Mill silver line card…I have almost all the Kobe Nagasawa inks in sample form, I will try and do some samples of a few similar colours such as Sannomiya Panse and post them up later…

*Incidentally, I’m still not entirely sure which type of paper is best for bringing out the sheen. Both the highly absorbent, thick laid paper of Original Crown Mill AND the super thin, shiny, non-absorbent Hobonichi paper both seem to bring out sheen. I’ve seen people on the forums post up very thick absorbent card stock for their samples and manage to draw out the craziest sheen. I find Rhodia is very hit and miss sheen-wise, but brings out the "true" colour of the ink, if that makes sense...

Other "facts"

Flow: 8/10

Behaviour: Very well lubricated and well behaved.

Saturation: High

Waterproof: Not at all

Shading: Yes there is some but not loads

Dry time: Moderate for such a wet ink

Sanyasou is definitely a purple ink for people who don’t really like purple. I much prefer it to Murusaki-shikubu, which is the kind of purple I don't like. I think it comes down to the saturation and the way Sanyasou leans more to indigo that makes the difference. It has a lovely velvety texture and seems to be very well behaved. It feels like a high quality Sailor ink. I like this ink a lot. Highly recommended.

Edited March 26, 2017 by kunju123

[Old_Inkyhand]

Wow, I really like it! Quite a surprise. I regret I'll never get it. I'm not really into hunting this unobtainable inks. This one is interesting, though. I like that it is bright and dark at the same time. Gorgeous shading.

 

(and a gorgeous pen!)

Edited March 26, 2017 by Old_Inkyhand

[lgsoltek]

I regret not getting this one a couple of years ago when I had the chance, when these inks were still not that hard to get.

[Miaxina]

The ink, the bottle, it's lovely! Thank you for the review!

[Algester]

it's weird because Vis expected it to be also similar to Murasaki Shikibu except it falls fairly into a purple similar to Shigure for him?...

especially when you look at the swab also supplied by Pen and Message

Edited March 26, 2017 by Algester

[domzals1]

Lovely ink, beautiful pen! Thanks for the review!

[mk2579]

Thanks all for comments!

 

A great ink for sure and a complete fluke it matches my Omas Princess so well (I bought the pen first!). I too love thats its so saturated.

 

I like this much more than Murusaki Shikubu and I just looked up Shigure which does look much more like Sanyasou, though I haven't used it (yet!)

[ENewton]

It does look beautiful. I am another person who will never have access to this ink, but fortunately I enjoy both Murasaki Shikibu and Shigure.

[white_lotus]

Excellent review! Thanks so much, I do like purple and blue and everything in between, so this looks quite nice.

[jmccarty3]

Thanks for the nice review of this stunning ink!

[inkstainedruth]

I have a lot of purples this basic shade already. But the sheen....

Thanks for the review. And not....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[chingdamosaic]

Great review! Thanks for sharing!

 

From your review it looks very similar to Sailor Nioi-Sumire, including the sheen. Would love to see a comparison of this two, if you happen to have the ink

[amberleadavis]

Oh yes.... drooling over here...