Ink Review #967: Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-guri

I’ve been using a lot of Pilot inks lately but haven’t reviewed them all yet, so today we are looking at Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-guri aka “Wild Chestnut”. I purchased my bottle of ink from Pen Chalet.

The color:

Yama-guri is a medium brown with a purple undertone.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink looks more purple than black, with some antique gold sheen.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 15 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: medium shading, low sheen, and no shimmer. The sheen is only visible in the flex nib and swabs on Tomoe River paper.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was some feathering in all nib sizes but just a tiny bit of bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Yama-guri is a bit lighter than Robert Oster Motor Oil and a bit cooler than Diamine Espresso. Click here to see the Pilot Iroshizuku inks together, and click here to see the brown inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a Montegrappa Copper Mule with a fine nib on a Lochby A5 blank Refill-Tomoe River 68gsm. The ink had a wet flow.

Overall, I really enjoyed this ink. It has a nice wet flow and some decent shading. It’s a great go-to brown, I think I would use it most in the winter. I did recently find out that the price of these Iroshizuku inks will be going up in January 2020, so if you are considering buying one it’s a great time to do it.

Disclaimer: I purchased this ink myself, and all photos and opinions are my own. This page does contain affiliate links, but this post is not sponsored in any way.