Kyo No Oto Imayouiro

The last Kyo No Oto ink that I will review is this cute pink ink called Imayouiro. It’s an intense pink when wet but it dries to a more mellow, suitably saturated pink. Dark enough to be easily readable, but also light enough to look a bit delicate on paper. It’s not a screaming neon pink color, but something that would look nice with calligraphy or in combination with other darker inks on a page.

The flow is pretty wet on a medium nib. It’s also quite well-behaved. It’s not all over the place, doesn’t feather or bleed through. It dries relatively fast at 15 seconds or so. It’s not water resistant. It’s got beautiful shading, though not really what I would call expressive or with a complex range of colors. It’s a pretty standard, nice-flowing, saturated pink ink. Here are a few close ups of the writing sample.

Kyoto inks are available at Everything Calligraphy.

Here’s a roundup of all the Kyoto Inks I have reviewed:

• Kyo-Iro Moonlight of Higashiyama
• Kyo-Iro Soft Snow of Ohara
• Kyo-Iro Stone Road of Gion
• Kyo-Iro Cherry Blossoms of Keage
• Kyo-Iro Flaming Red of Fushimi
• Kyo No Oto Aonibi
• Kyo No Oto Kokeiro
• Kyo No Oto Yamabukiiro
• Kyo No Oto Nurebairo
• Kyo No Oto Imayouiro

Review: Kyo No Oto Nurebairo

The next ink I’m reviewing from the Kyo No Oto line of Kyoto Inks is Nurebairo. At first I was a little confused by it because I really thought it’s blue black. Under fluorescent light, it does look like a very dark blue. Under natural light, it’s clearly a black colored ink with blue undertones. The ink feels quite thick to me, so it flows a bit on the dry side. It also has some copper sheen, although the sheen seems equally distributed along the lines that I draw. Much like what happens when the ink doesn’t have expressive shading. For me, the effect is that the ink looks more glossy than sheeny on paper, much like how india ink would look like when dry. Here’s a short clip on the copper-colored sheen on Tomoe River paper. Keep in mind that the sheen of any ink can be seen if you use the right combination of ink, pen, and paper. More absorbent paper and dry-writing nibs most probably won’t show off the sheen-y properties of ink.

The ink dries relatively slow at 25 seconds or so. It’s also not water resistant. This is a nice, rich black if you want something that’s not watery-looking for your everyday writing. It doesn’t show off much shading, though the little shading it has shows a color of dark bluish grey. I know many people like myself who like black ink to be black like tar or jet black. This would be just the right legit black for your legit black ink needs. Here are a few closeups of the writing sample:

Kyoto inks are available at Everything Calligraphy.

Here’s a roundup of all the Kyoto Inks I have reviewed:

• Kyo-Iro Moonlight of Higashiyama
• Kyo-Iro Soft Snow of Ohara
• Kyo-Iro Stone Road of Gion
• Kyo-Iro Cherry Blossoms of Keage
• Kyo-Iro Flaming Red of Fushimi
• Kyo No Oto Aonibi
• Kyo No Oto Kokeiro
• Kyo No Oto Yamabukiiro
• Kyo No Oto Nurebairo
• Kyo No Oto Imayouiro

Review: Kyo No Oto Yamabukiiro

I’ve never been a big fan of yellow inks, and it wasn’t exactly love at first sight with this one, but it’s strange because the color kinda grew on me. I started using it to write dates, headers or section titles in my journal entries, and they pop right out the page. It’s a nice shade of yellow, very earthy. It brings to mind that point when leaves aren’t quite dead and dry yet, but the green has just drained out of them.

It’s not too light that you can’t read it, but I would recommend that you use it with a wet nib. This page was written with a Pilot vanishing point that has a medium nib. I was intrigued about how it would look with a stub, so…

The ink has very expressive shading, and I like that the shading ranges from a golden brown, to yellow orange, to light yellow. Like the color of leaves as they dry. The ink might be too light if you’re using a fine nib, though. It’s best used with wider and wetter nibs so you can appreciate the complexity of the color. I’m surprised that I like this ink as much as I do, honestly.

I would put the flow at a moderate, depending on what pen you use with it. With my stub nib, it flowed a touch on the wet side. With my medium nib, it flowed moderate, a touch on the dry side. It dried at a little over 20 seconds on Tomoe River paper. It’s not water resistant, it washes away quite beautifully, actually. I think it’s a great ink for creative applications. Maybe not something you would use to sign your checks, but something to add a splash of color to your journals. Me likey.

Here are a few close up photos of the writing samples:

Kyoto inks are available at Everything Calligraphy.

Here’s a roundup of all the Kyoto Inks I have reviewed:

• Kyo-Iro Moonlight of Higashiyama
• Kyo-Iro Soft Snow of Ohara
• Kyo-Iro Stone Road of Gion
• Kyo-Iro Cherry Blossoms of Keage
• Kyo-Iro Flaming Red of Fushimi
• Kyo No Oto Aonibi
• Kyo No Oto Kokeiro
• Kyo No Oto Yamabukiiro
• Kyo No Oto Nurebairo
• Kyo No Oto Imayouiro