Ink Review #80

*Please note that the scan is the accurate representation of this color.

Overview

The color/properties:

Murasaki-shikibu is a medium purple, with light blue undertones. It shades with a soft cut between slightly differing intensities of its color, but there isn’t a lot of tonal variation. It’s not especially vibrant, but it still appears bold on the paper.

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

Performance on paper:

Murasaki-shikibu was mostly well-behaved with the test papers, but I did notice some micro feathering on the Leuchtturm paper. There wasn’t any bleed-through however, and the feathering is difficult to see with the naked eye. There was also some bleed-through with each of the nib sizes on the Kokuyo paper. More noticeable were the ink droplets (on Rhodia), where the ink begins to feather around the edges. This ink should be okay in most normal writing conditions, but pairing this ink with a wetter nib might lead to more aggressive feathering or bleeding on the less ink-resistant papers. The dry times were slightly above average. The large nibs were mostly dry within 15 seconds, with only one instance on Rhodia with the 1.1 stub that took 20 seconds to dry. The finer nibs were otherwise dry within 5-10 seconds. The water resistance isn’t great, but at least there might be some legible remains after water exposure. It’s hazy but dark enough to make out.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Performance in the pen:

Compared to other Iroshizuku inks I’ve tried, Murasaki-shikibu has a surprisingly dry flow. It falls more in the dry-medium range than truly dry, but the lubrication wasn’t that high either. It’s okay, but I would have preferred more lubrication — the finer nibs didn’t feel great while writing, and while the needlepoint was able to write, it felt more or less unusable. Even more surprising is that even though the flow is dry, the ink managed to flow to the tip of the nib faster than most inks I’ve tried in the test pen. I had some consistent hard starts with the extra fine and fine nibs as well — any time I lifted the pen for more than a few seconds would result in a hard start. There were some hard starts with the broad nib as well, but it wasn’t as severe.

I always expect this color to be difficult to clean out, but I’m always happy to find out that it cleans out easily, and it was not different during my tests. A soak and flush, and the pens are clear of ink.

• Performance in a pen: 7/10

• Performance on paper: 7.5/10

• Color saturation: 5/10

• Sheening: 0/10

• Shading: 4/10

• Dry time: 7.5/10

• Water resistance: 4/10

• Ease of cleaning: 8/10

• Shimmer: None

My personal thoughts…

When I initially picked this ink up, I thought by “Murasaki-shikibu,” they meant the author of The Tale of Genji (something I admittedly haven’t read myself). It seemed uncharacteristic of Pilot to name an Iroshizuku ink after a person. As it turns out, it’s actually referring to the Japanese Beautyberry, a plant that produces bright purple drupes that inspired this ink color. The plant, however, is named after the aforementioned author, so in a fun roundabout way, the ink kind of is named after her. Neat.

As for the ink itself, I’ve long had a hard time deciding whether I would recommend it or not. I feel like I shouldn’t. It’s not the best-performing ink in the Iroshizuku line-up. But then, I’ve always kind of liked it. It wasn’t until I thought about whether I would buy it again once my 15ml mini bottle was gone, and the answer was “probably not.” There are plenty of other similar purples out there at a better price point that will perform better and more consistently. So unless you’re just a diehard Iroshizuku collector, I would probably recommend looking elsewhere.

More images/info:

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 68gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook

• A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook

• A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook