Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo
Ink Review #147
*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.
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Overview
The color/properties:
Yama-budo is a medium purple with heavy pink undertones. Especially when used in abundance, such as swatches and ink splats, a lot of the pink tones come forward, resulting in an almost magenta where the ink doesn’t lay down as heavily. In writing, however, the ink takes on a darker, more purple-heavy tone. The ink is highly saturated, but it still has some shading, especially when writing in print, where you may see a soft cut where the ink pools into a darker, bolder purple tone. There’s not as much shading when writing in cursive, but you may notice some, especially a soft gradient in the lettering.
I often see Yama-budo shown with a heavy golden sheen, and there’s certainly a light sheen; however, I think the sheeniness of Yama-budo tends to be exaggerated. As you can see in the ink splats and droplets below, there’s only a slight sheen around the edges. It’s not terribly bright, and it’s almost hard to see without good lighting. The same rings true when using Yama-budo in writing. There’s a light sheen (more noticeable in print), but without good lighting, it’s not very visible. Personally, I wouldn’t call this a sheening ink, but I think it adds a nice, subdued spice to the base color.
Ink splat
Ink droplets
Performance on paper:
Yama-budo mostly performed well, but there was some light feathering, and even some slight bleed-through on the Tomoe River (52 gsm) paper when using the broad, 1.1 stub, and even the medium nib (though much less with the medium). There was also one spot of bleed-through on the Kokuyo sheet, and a few spots on the Leuchtturm paper where it came very close to bleeding through.
The dry times were surprisingly good for a more saturated ink. The needlepoint to medium nibs mostly took 10 seconds or less to dry, while the larger nib sizes took a more average 15-25 seconds. With that said, the higher saturation can make this ink especially prone to smudging from residual hand moisture.
The water resistance isn’t great. Water exposure quickly causes color clouding, and while there’s some retention of what was written, it’s very messy.
Water resistance
Chromatography
Performance in the pen:
Yama-budo’s performance in pens is excellent, especially for a highly saturated purple. It has a medium-wet flow and decent lubrication that, while not necessarily the slickest, still makes for a comfortable and slightly above-average writing experience. I didn’t have any hard starts, skips, or stops during my tests, and the ink keeps up well in extended writing without any noticeable drops in flow.
Cleaning this ink out takes a little longer than average, but it’s still not terrible (in my case, it took 2 soaks and flushes to run clean). When cleaning, there was a slight pink tinge to my Diamond 580 test pen, but it washed out with extended soaking, and there are no visible stains, color, or residue left in the barrel or nib units. Still, I would advise against using this in clear pens or lighter pens that might be easily stained. I once purchased a clear pen with a frosted finish that came pre-inked with Yama-budo, and to this day, I haven’t been able to get it all out. Be warned (photo below).
The victim.
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper (white, 6mm ruling) with a medium nib.
Written on Midori MD paper (cream, 7mm ruling) with a medium nib.
A closer look at some of the feathering experienced on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper.
Performance in a pen: 10/10
Performance on paper: 7/10
Color saturation: 7.5/10
Sheening: 4/10
Shading: 2/10
Dry time: 7.5/10
Water resistance: 3/10
Ease of cleaning: 6/10
Shimmer: None
My personal thoughts…
As a reviewer, the problem I have with Yama-budo is that it’s always going to be difficult to talk about it without sounding like I’m purposely promoting something. That’s just how good it is, and I don’t think it’s too much to say that it’s become something of a cornerstone in the pen community. It’s not hard to see why either: before the influx of so many new boutique ink makers, there were options like Pilot’s Iroshizuku that helped pave the way to higher-end, special ink lines. The color itself might not be considered that unique, but this is an ink that came out well before we had such a broad choice of sheening, shimmering, and multi-shading inks on offer, and the color paired with that light golden sheen pushed it a long way to its success. I’m not sure it would have the same overwhelmingly positive reception if it were released today, but I can say one thing: it’s tried and true, and when you open that box and see the gorgeous glass bottle, it’s hard not to get the sense that Yama-budo is just special.
There might be a lot of new inks that you can compare to Yama-budo, but Yama-budo doesn’t look like those inks. Those inks look like Yama-budo.
Written on 52 gsm Tomoe River paper with a Pilot Vanishing Point (broad nib).
More images/info:
Featured in the photography and writing samples:
Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo (Amazon)
Pilot Custom 74 Merlot, medium nib (Amazon)
Sterling Ink 52 gsm Tomoe River B6 notebook
Midori A6 lined notebook (Amazon)
Traveler’s Company brass clip (Amazon)
Franklin-Christoph pen roll
Notebook covers by Jenika’s Journals
Street Brass Zippo lighter
Theory11 Contraband playing cards (Amazon)
Current text: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Amazon)
Tools and materials used in the writing samples:
A TWSBI Diamond 580 AL with 7 nib units including a Needlepoint grind, EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm stub, and an Architect grind. All nibs are tuned to perform at the same medium wetness.
A Rhodia No16 A5 DotPad
A Leuchtturm1917 A5 Notebook
A Midori MD A5 Notebook
A 52 gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook
A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook
A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook