Ink Review #99

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

Overview

The color/properties:

Sailor Manyo Nekoyanagi is a multi-shading pastel purple with strong blue and pink undertones. Whether you get more pink or blue character to this ink is highly dependent on the paper you use it on; less absorbent papers such as Tomoe River will bring out a lot of the pink tones, while more absorbent papers such as Rhodia and Leuchtturm will retain much of the blue. As far as the shading itself, there’s a lot of tonal variation, from a light floral blue to a bright pink with hard blue edges around the areas where the ink pools. Nekoyanagi is a pale ink, but I didn’t find it all that difficult to see on paper, especially with the larger nib sizes. With that said, darker inks used on subsequent pages might make this ink harder to see over it.

Nekoyanagi has the Sailor ink smell, but it wasn’t strong, and not as noticeable while writing compared to others.

Rhodia

Leuchtturm1917

Performance on paper:

Nekoyanagi is gentle. There wasn’t a lot of bleed-through on the Kokuyo Paper, and what little bleeding there was was limited to the larger nib sizes. The other test papers didn’t show any signs of feathering or bleeding, however, there were a few signs of feathering around the edges of the ink droplets. Still, I don’t expect this ink to be an issue on most fountain pen-friendly papers.

The dry times are a touch above average, with the large nib sizes often drying in 15 seconds. There were a few cases where the ink took 20-25 seconds to dry, but on average, they were good.

The water resistance on the other hand wasn’t the best. There are some traces left after short water exposure that may still be legible, but even then, they’re faint.

Midori MD

Maruman

Tomoe River

Kokuyo

Performance in the pen:

Nekoyanagi has a dry flow, and it wasn’t the best performer with the needlepoint, extra fine and fine nibs. It was too pale, too dry, and unenjoyable. The medium nib and larger were a much different story. The ink was still dry, but there was enough flow to give it enough lubrication. It still wasn’t slick, but it was smooth enough, especially for a multi-shading ink. With that said, while writing for longer periods the flow would noticeably die down to the point that I would have to wait for it to catch up again (visible in the writing samples, where the ink gets progressively lighter down the page).

Cleaning was mostly easy, however, it surprisingly took a few soaks to clear the ink from the nib units. Initially, it seemed like all of the color washed away immediately, but after an initial soak, it was apparent that there was still pink residue left over that washed out after more soaking.

• Performance in a pen: 7/10

• Performance on paper: 8/10

• Color saturation: 3/10

• Sheening: 0/10

• Shading: 10/10

• Dry time: 8/10

• Water resistance: 1/10

• Ease of cleaning: 8/10

• Shimmer: None

My personal thoughts...

So, what is Nekoyanagi? That’s easy! “Neko” - cat. “Yanagi” - willow. So, Nekoyanagi - Pussy Willow! But more specifically, the Japanese Pussy Willow that blooms the distinctive pink/purple catkins. As far as the accuracy of the ink color, well, it really depends on the paper you’re writing on to spring out those brighter pinks, and I can see what Sailor was going for, but the catkins in question are a much darker, distinct pink.

So it’s not that accurate, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad ink! I mean just look at it, it’s beautiful! Still, I dove into Nekoyanagi with low expectations. I was told it wasn’t the best performer, and fair enough; multi-shading inks with iffy performance are nothing new. But there are always exceptions to the rule. Sure enough, it wasn’t that great with the fine and extra fine nibs. It’s no wonder where the criticisms I’ve heard come from: it can be dry. Moving past that, though, it just wasn’t that bad. Going up from medium nibs, there’s more than enough flow for this to be comfortable. No, it isn’t slick, that’s not what this ink will give you, but tolerable? Absolutely. The expectations need to align with the intended usage here. It’s not an everyday ink, but it’s certainly a nice one.

A few reviews ago I mentioned that Nekoyanagi may be a more readily available alternative to Bungukan Kobayashi Clematis, and after a thorough comparison, I think it holds up. It’s not a perfect match, especially not when the ink is laid down heavily (swatches, splats, etc), but in writing, the differences are far less distinct.

Comparisons:

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 52gsm A5 Tomoe River Notebook

• A Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Spiral Notebook

• A Kokuyo Campus A5 Notebook