Ink Review #187: Pilot Iroshizuku Tsukushi

Pilot Iroshizuku Tsukushi is an ink a reader requested I review. The first week of every month this year is saved for reader request ink reviews. It's not one I've tried before, so let's take a look. I purchased my sample of ink from Vanness Pens. 

The color:

This ink is very paper dependent-it looks a little bit different on each paper. On most it is a medium brown.

In large swabs this ink does not look brown, it's purple with green sheen. 

In ink drops it also looks purple. In the top left drop you can see the brown when there's just a little bit of ink, but when there's a lot it turns purple with green sheen.

Dry time: 15 seconds

Water resistance: Medium-some ink washed away, but you could probably still make out what was written.

Feathering: None

Show though: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: Medium shading, medium green sheen, and no shimmer.

On 20 pound copy paper there was a little bit of feathering, but other than that the ink performed well.

Ink swabs for comparison, left to right (top to bottom for mobile RSS): Pelikan Edelstein Smoky Quartz, Pilot Iroshizuku Tsukushi, and J. Herbin 1670 Caroube de Chypre. Click here to see the Pilot Iroshizuku inks together. 

Diamine Espresso, Robert Oster Golden Brown, and Sailor Jentle Doyou. Click here to see the brown inks together. Out of all of these inks, I think Espresso is the closest to Tsukushi, but it's a little bit cooler in tone than Tsukushi is.

Longer writing: I used a medium Pelikan M805 Renaissance Brown on Tomoe River paper. This ink is on the wet side, and is nice and smooth. I found this pen/ink combo to be a really great combination-wet and smooth, and they matched pretty well too. 

Overall, I love the flow of Pilot Iroshizuku inks. The ones I've tried so far have been wet and smooth, which I love in an ink. The brown is nice, but with the green sheen it reminds me a bit of J. Herbin 1670 Caroube de Chypre. I don't think I like the color enough to need a full bottle, but give it a try, you might end up loving it.

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page.