an average blue-black or something more? | Sailor Manyo Kikyou Ink Review

Fountain pen inks are usually thought of as colorful liquids that you fill your pens with and the only novelty things about them are mostly the shading or sheening of the ink on the page. However, there is an collection of ink that has more than just shades and sheens: a bit of literature and historical reference - the Sailor Manyo Ink with an example of the Kikyou blue black.

On the box, there is an introduction text: 

"Manyosyu" - Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves - is the oldest(c.759) and most revered anthology of Japan's poetic compilations. Over a period of four centuries 4,516 poems were written by every class of person ranging from Emperors to merchants and farmers.

"Manyo" is an abbreviation of "Manyosyu" and its meaning indicates people of all ranks.

"Manyosyu" is often regarded in Japan as a true expression of the Japanese spirit. The themes of the poems relate to love, elegies, nature, the seasons, and so on. Flowers are especially relevant in Japanese culture and about 1,500 of the poems in "Manyosyu" cover some 160 species of plants and 50 different flowers.

The Kikyou in my hands here today is the name of bellflower, one of the seven autumn flowers in ancient japanese text, which is said to represent elegance, refinement, honesty, steadfast love and gentle warmth. (more on the flowers)

It’s interesting how this shade of blue black is really warm on the page, and it shows the transition of the lighter and darker shades with a streak of reddish-purple sheen. I was really curious because most of the pictures of the blue variant flowers shows the petals as blue with slightly purple-red veins as well. The way Sailor balanced out the shades and the sheening really fits the calming gentleness of the name Kikyou.

I personally like to pair this with broader nibs as the pools of ink show the shades and sheen really well, especially on the edges of the letters, but I could see the combination being too wet for everyday writing. On Rhodia and standard photocopy paper, it will not show the red sheen properly as the paper is more absorbant, but on Tomoe River, after it dried I found myself zooming in and staring at the letters for a while before moving on to the next page.

From further googling, there are 2 poems that I found mentioned these bellflowers, and both of which have that melancholic love while also remains calm and a bit secretive. This somehow goes really well with the subdued blueblack that Sailor intended for this ink color. I am not sure if it’s planned or just a coincidence, but either way it feels really good when everything connects in a harmonious way.

The Manyo collection offers some really vibrant and sheening colors that would appeal to a lot of users, plus the brand has always been known for the performance of their ink products. The Kikyou I showed here today isn’t the most popular one compare to colors like Haha or Yomogi, but I would like to know your thoughts on this ink collection. Of course, no ink could go alone without a good looking pen to accompany it, check out a handsome pen at that with an affordable price tag in the next article below.

Thank you for reading and see you on the next one!