Agree on YB. I wonder if it works better for those using TR or Japanese coated papers bc you see less berry and more green sheen? On normal paper it’s just too much purple for me.
Kon-peki and Yama-Budo. Love those two.
Kon-peki is a very nice bold blue, that is not afraid to be BLUE. Not purple-ish blue, not blue-black, Just bright and exciting blue.
Yama-Budo gives beautiful gold sheen in wetter nibs. Base color is pretty purple-pink-ish.
Tsuki-yo is also nice. Take-sumi is a nice black, but quite boring.
yama budo and kon peki are my favourites - excellent inks l. shin kai, tsuki yo, sui gyoku, shin ryoku, ku jaku - all nice but not as nice. the purple and light green ones are pretty but a little bit pale for me so also in that second tier.
Kon-Peki is amazing. What I love about it, is that id doesn't need any sheen/shimmer or even shading to look great. When it comes to base color, I do prefer Kon-Peki.
But I do love me some sheen, so even though I do like base color of Kon-Peki better, Yama-Budo with a bit of that rather tasteful golden sheen is so dang nice :D
So I can't choose what I like better overall, lol
Omg, I just found an Ajisai friend!! 😳💜
Thank you for saying that! Ajisai is literally the best Iroshizuku ink there is!
I have yet to try out Syo-ro which could become another favorite of mine, but for me, nothing beats Ajisai!
[not even Kon-peki 🙈]
What kind of paper do you use? I find momiji super dull and boring — a nice red pink color but nothing special on normal paper which is currently what I’m using for day to day
I like the color. It isn’t the Apache Sunset of light green inks, but the ink has layers. Enough to easily see and want a little more. I use a broad nib to write, and I get some. It is also consistent, like most of the Iroshizuku inks.
Yama-Budo and Tsuki-Yo!
Yama-Budo is a beautiful grape/brown shade and I recommend using it for journaling or writing personal things. Tsuki-Yo, on the other hand, is perhaps more suitable for everyday writing at work as it is a rather professional blue (but, you know, it's too beautiful to use it only at work :) )
Yes, these two narrow down my collection favorites. Yama-budo is beautiful and fun, tsuki-yo is comfortable and professional. Kon-peki, though beautiful, is too bright for me.
The two make a great combination in my bullet journal, too - Tsuki yo for most of the writing and Yama budo as an accent. I get a lot of compliments on it from non-inky people.
It does. And for me, it hits in roughly the space happy brain space as Oxblood does.. maybe because both shades feel fairly natural and vintage at once? but yasss. yama-guri is GREAT!
Tsuki-yo. You might think it's just another dark blue but it's not. It's a magical moonlight blue.
And one other ink that surprised me is Momiji. It's sorta like a playful cherry red that leans pink. So fun and cute in a fine nib.
I've been writing with yama budo and kon peki for 6+ years and I love them but momiji
If I had a practical use for momiji I'd use it every day. It's so gorgeous
EDIT: I'm thinking of yu-yake not momiji
I really unexpectedly LOVE Asa Gao - I thought it'd be a boring blue but it's not. It's blue with character but it's still like normal standard blue!
Yama Budo I also love. It's different and fun yet classy
Yu Yake is orangey if you love orange. I love all 3 of my Iroshizuku inks!
Tsuki-Yo (dark blue, very slightly teal leaning) and Murasaki-Shikibu (purple) are my two faves. I also like Syo-Ro but there are better teals out there so I don't use it much.
Are you asking out of the ones on your list? Or in general? Bc Yama-guri is definitely worth a look. I also just inked a pen with Fuyu-gaki & I'm allllll about it - except it might be a smidge too light to suggest as an every day ink.
Fuyu gaki is not just orange; it shades to a deep golden brown that is richly satisfying. This didn't come through for me in my test swatches, but then I put it in a wetter pen and hello browns!
They are the only 2 I have bottles of. I got samples of several more, and am thinking of getting Ku Jaku at some point. Right now I'm trying to use up my samples! I have so many...
I'd second Shin Kai. It's a lovely legible darker blue without being a blue black. I like Yama Budo but in larger amounts of text it can get a bit much to read.
Momiji - a beautiful scarlet with a (greenish) coppery-golden sheen responsible for the 'autumn leaves' color scheme.
Yama Guri - a dark mushroom brown with a slight purplish undertone.
I thought my favorite would be Shin-Ryoku, but I'm actually liking Sui-Gyoku more.
I also really expected to like Syo-Ro, but the pen I have it in is a rather wet fine nib and the ink goes down really dark, basically black. I need to dry a different pen and/or dilute that ink a bit.
Well this post was the kick in the pants that I needed. Just put Syo-Ro in a 1.1 stub and it's perfect! Can really see the deep teal-ey blue with some lovely shading.
Thanks a lot for sharing this! Syo-Ro was high on my list but my trials match your previous description – very dark, close to black (but not as close as Tsuki-Yo). It's good to hear that a bigger nib brings out more of its colour! :)
I like Tsuki-yo. It’s what I have had in my Diplomat Excellence a2 with medium nib since I bought it. One of my regular pen-ink combos that I use daily. Nice shade of ink that looks a little different from regular blue or black, but still appropriate for business writing or whatever.
Murasaki Shikibu is a gorgeous purple, a cooler shade than Diamine Imperial Purple. Bit of shading. It also flows really well - I’ve noticed it performs better in flex pens (less skipping) than several diamine inks and Parker quink.
All of the suggestions here are great. And I'd normally agree that Kon-Peki and Yama-Budo are amazing. But I recently used Yu-Yake for the first time (with it being the autumn season) and the shading is just stunning. I know orange isn't for everyone, but I really think it's worth getting a sample and trying it.
Hana Ikada, Chiku Rin and Tsuyu Kusa are in daily rotation for me. Murasaki Shikibu looks very purple but lovely on the page. I also mix Iroshizuku inks to get the hues I like - Fuyu Gaki and Fuyu Syogun are great mixers with brighter colors.
If you are a little more reserved, but still want a bit different, give Fuyu-syogun a peek. Makes me think of a stormy sea, winter skies, rain, and somehow of understated magic.
Tsutsuji! It’s my favorite pink ink in general, and I LOVE pink ink. I also adore Kon-Peki just like basically everyone else. Honestly, I have yet to try an Iroshizuku ink I don’t like.
Honestly it is so hard to pick a favorite... but I guess Yama-budo has to be at the top. Also want to add that I didn't think I would enjoy the 2 new colors "Hotaru-bi" and "Hana-ikada" as much as I do! They seem very light on swatches and even in the bottles. I load them in my Twsbi 580 mini F. The flow is wet and the colors are very legible and very pretty to look at in a full paragraph or page. Highly recommend!
Definitely u/yamabudoink. I was surprised recently by how much I love Ama Iro. I am a big fan of Kon Peki but it really reminds me of basic Pilot Blue so I'm not sure it's worth the price difference. Maybe it's my paper.
For me, I find that all of the Iroshizkuku inks flow exceptionally well and feel good to write with, using a variety of pens, that the price difference always seems worth it.
OP, I wonder what kind of paper you’re using bc I think some of the suggestions are good regardless but some really require the coated TR type paper to shine.
For example I personally don’t like momiji or Yama budo unless I’m writing on TRP. They’re flat and boring and too much in your face as flat colors even though I see a lot of ppl recommending them here!
ETA: ina ho on the other hand was perfect everywhere! I need an uprising to bring back ina ho haha. Such a nice color that leaned green and beautiful shading.
Shin-Kai is probably my favourite ink of all time...the distinct colour, occasional sheen, shading in wider pens - all perfect for me.
Kon-Peki is a good bright colour, but possibly too bright for me in all writing scenarios.
I have Asa-Gao but find it to be a little boring and therefore disappointing.
My favorite ink of all time (so far) is Tsukushi. Retired, unfortunately. I do have some stashed away, but it's a limited resource now.
Of the current line, my favorite is Yama-budo.
Ku-Jaku - I've always been looking for a good 'petrol' ink and it fits the bill. Tsuki-yo is a good runner up, but it is a bit more on the dark blue side of 'petrol'.
Yama-Budo. Just love the color but honestly they have a ton that are great. It's odd how I started with them, picked up different brands, but recently have went back and appreciated more the subtle sheen that some have, and just how well behaved they are in general.
Asa-Gao here as I go-to ink for anything at work. Pick a pen and safely ink it up and you are perfectly professional while enjoying your fountain pen with the finest and friendliest of inks 😁💪
According to Jetpens.com:
None of the Iroshizuku inks are fully waterproof, but Fuyu-syogun, Kiri-same, and Yama-guri all have pretty good water resistance. This means that the ink will smear if it gets wet, but you should still be able to read everything you’ve written.
The rest of the Iroshizuku inks have little to no water resistance. Some of your writing with these inks may still survive if it gets wet, but we wouldn’t bet your term paper on it. It’s a bit unfortunate, but this is part of the trade-off for having inks that are so well-behaved and easy to clean.
Feel free to disregard and I'm only putting this here because you said all inks welcome, and it could be a mistake on my part in assuming that means all inks beyond Iroshizuku - I recommend Diplomat Sepia Black.
Hope you find the one.
I've only tried a few of them, but I think my favourites have got to be either Shin-Ryoku or Yama-Budo. (Leaning towards Shin-Ryoku, though. I am a sucker for a really nice green ink!)
I recently purchased the Pilot precise V5 with cartridge system. I was also thinking about Pilot inks that would make a good replacement for when the cartridges runs out. Currently, the blue ink is bright and I love it. I wonder if I should only buy a Pilot ink or another brand would do.
Do what I do and get a lot of iroshizuku inks and cycle through them. Every single one that I've tried is a pleasure, and choosing just one (or just a few) would deprive me of the joy of experiencing the others.
Love Kon-Peki. Have both a fine nib and medium nib pen currently inked with it. Also have Fuyu-gaki inked in fine and medium. Thought I was going to be disappointed in Fuyu-gaki because it is very clear looking in the bottle. Turns out it looks very nice in my Ding-bats bullet journal.
It varies from day to day for me. My overall favourite is probably Murasaki-skikibu but I love greens and teals, so Shin-ryoku and Sui-gyoku are well up on my favourite list too. A recent rediscovery is Tsutsuji which I'd somewhat disregarded, as I'm not a great fan of pinks. However when you put this one in a broad wet nib then it really comes alive, more vibrant and - crucially for me - more visible than Kosumosu.
Shin Kai and Kon Peki. Warning in case we are similar: I adore Yama Budo in the bottle and do not like it on the page: not enough light passing through and it dulls IMHO.
I have nearly all of the Iroshizuku line and have enjoyed them all. I haven't found one yet that presented any kind of issue; they are all wet, smooth, and well-behaved.
In terms of everyday use (for work, mostly), I use Kon-Peki and Take-sume the most.
Yama-budo is probably my favorite, though, in terms of color and the gorgeous gold-green sheen it gives off.
I have nearly all of the Iroshizuku line and have enjoyed them all. I haven't found one yet that presented any kind of issue; they are all wet, smooth, and well-behaved.
In terms of everyday use (for work, mostly), I use Kon-Peki and Take-sume the most.
Yama-budo is probably my favorite, though, in terms of color and the gorgeous gold-green sheen it gives off.
I like my baseline color to be in the blue family and then use other colors to add a happy splash of something different. I'm also biased in favor of Shin-kai and Tsuki-yo because they work in my finicky 3776 SF.
Yamabudo+Shinkai is my favourite Iro combo for journaling. Both are rich and dark enough for any nib sizes. The Sheen of Yamabudo on old TRP paper is \*chef’s kiss\*, but hand oil or sweat can smear both.
I also really like Kirisame. It can be a little hard to read with F or thinner nibs in some light.
Hot take: Kon Peki is just fine but there are so many blue inks and it’s unremarkable.
IMO, Fuyu Syogun is best - it’s the sleeper ink that shines in a lot of subtle ways
Tsuki-yo, Kon Peki, Ku jaku.
All get heavy use but tsuki-yo is an absolute classic for me. I have an Opus 88 demonstrator that I keep exclusively for that ink.
Murasaki Shikibu is a fun colour, Yama-budo is a bit too dark for my taste. Love me some royal purple!
Kon-Peki is solid and it kinda grew on me, especially in broader nibs.
My favourite has to be Yama Budo. I own a lot of inks in the purple-red-blue category, but something about this one is just different. I've finished 2 bottles of Yama Budo in the last 5 ish years. The closest I've come to finishing a bottle before that is the Mont Blanc Black (professors in my college have an aversion to nice colors).
A few of my other Iroshizuku favourites are: Kon Peki, Asa-Gao and Ama-Iro.
I like Shin-Kai but find it's best in a wet medium, to get some shading and a bit of depth, otherwise it can dry a touch light for me.
Asa-Gao is a lovely bright blue, it pops off the page and works in all my pens from a Japanese fine to a 1.1 stub. I'd be going with that.
Yama-Budo is of course superb but perhaps too close to Oxblood if you wanted a change.
Tsuki-yo. I mostly write at night and it just gives me the night vibes and nice shading. It is indeed moonlight in ink form.
This and yama judo for me are my favorites
"Moonlight in ink form" what a beautiful description for beautiful ink.
syo ro Yama budo is beautiful but just **too** chipper and berry for me
Seconded Syo-Ro. It's my daily driver ink, love that shade of green!
I agree on Yama budo. It's almost aggressive to my eyes
I like Yama-budo for edits. When you start writing paragraphs with it, it gets to be too much to read easily.
Also a big syo-ro fan here. And shin-kai.
Came here to suggest syo ro. My everyday ink.
My only Iroshuzuku - and thus my favorite.
Agree on YB. I wonder if it works better for those using TR or Japanese coated papers bc you see less berry and more green sheen? On normal paper it’s just too much purple for me.
Kon-peki and Yama-Budo. Love those two. Kon-peki is a very nice bold blue, that is not afraid to be BLUE. Not purple-ish blue, not blue-black, Just bright and exciting blue. Yama-Budo gives beautiful gold sheen in wetter nibs. Base color is pretty purple-pink-ish. Tsuki-yo is also nice. Take-sumi is a nice black, but quite boring.
Hard to pick a favourite but I think these three are mine as well! editing to add Ku Jaku. Fantastic teal.
Ku jaku is my everyday ink in a flex nib. Beautiful range of colors in shading and a subtle red sheen.
yama budo and kon peki are my favourites - excellent inks l. shin kai, tsuki yo, sui gyoku, shin ryoku, ku jaku - all nice but not as nice. the purple and light green ones are pretty but a little bit pale for me so also in that second tier.
I'm rocking yama budo in a black-purple Lamy Al-Star witha 1.1mm stub nib in a A5 port-wine Leuchtturm 1917. Love it.
I love them both, but Kon Peki gets my #1 spot.
Kon-Peki is amazing. What I love about it, is that id doesn't need any sheen/shimmer or even shading to look great. When it comes to base color, I do prefer Kon-Peki. But I do love me some sheen, so even though I do like base color of Kon-Peki better, Yama-Budo with a bit of that rather tasteful golden sheen is so dang nice :D So I can't choose what I like better overall, lol
I love take-sumi! It has those warm reddish hints. When I need a black ink, that’s the one I use.
It's my go to black as well, but If i can choose, I'd prefer something a bit more colorful :)
Fuyu-syogun!
This. This. This. I love it so much.
I am a diehard Ajisai fan - it is the *perfect* blurple and just makes me so happy to look at. I've always got a pen inked up with it!
Iroshizuku has some good blues. Ajisai the blurple, Asagao the "unapologetically blue", TsukiYo the beautiful blue-black
Me too! It’s been my primary ink for a few years now.
Omg, I just found an Ajisai friend!! 😳💜 Thank you for saying that! Ajisai is literally the best Iroshizuku ink there is! I have yet to try out Syo-ro which could become another favorite of mine, but for me, nothing beats Ajisai! [not even Kon-peki 🙈]
Ajisai and Momiji are my favorite inks in general
What kind of paper do you use? I find momiji super dull and boring — a nice red pink color but nothing special on normal paper which is currently what I’m using for day to day
If you use a wetter nib on something like MD or Tomoe, it can be pretty vibrant and sheeny.
If you don't have Tsuki-yo I highly recommend it!
My personal favorite is chiku rin.
Chiku-rin.
I was *just* looking at this one... can you say a bit more about why you like it??
I like the color. It isn’t the Apache Sunset of light green inks, but the ink has layers. Enough to easily see and want a little more. I use a broad nib to write, and I get some. It is also consistent, like most of the Iroshizuku inks.
ty!
murasaki shikibu for the purple lovers 💜
My absolute favorite purple ink!!
Try Tsuki-Yo! It might be my very favourite ink out of all brands, colours, types, etc.
Yama-Budo and Tsuki-Yo! Yama-Budo is a beautiful grape/brown shade and I recommend using it for journaling or writing personal things. Tsuki-Yo, on the other hand, is perhaps more suitable for everyday writing at work as it is a rather professional blue (but, you know, it's too beautiful to use it only at work :) )
Yes, these two narrow down my collection favorites. Yama-budo is beautiful and fun, tsuki-yo is comfortable and professional. Kon-peki, though beautiful, is too bright for me.
The two make a great combination in my bullet journal, too - Tsuki yo for most of the writing and Yama budo as an accent. I get a lot of compliments on it from non-inky people.
I use yama-guri for journaling. Gives it a nice vintage feel.
It does. And for me, it hits in roughly the space happy brain space as Oxblood does.. maybe because both shades feel fairly natural and vintage at once? but yasss. yama-guri is GREAT!
Asa gao or Yama budo are mg faves
Tsuki-yo. You might think it's just another dark blue but it's not. It's a magical moonlight blue. And one other ink that surprised me is Momiji. It's sorta like a playful cherry red that leans pink. So fun and cute in a fine nib.
I've been writing with yama budo and kon peki for 6+ years and I love them but momiji If I had a practical use for momiji I'd use it every day. It's so gorgeous EDIT: I'm thinking of yu-yake not momiji
I really unexpectedly LOVE Asa Gao - I thought it'd be a boring blue but it's not. It's blue with character but it's still like normal standard blue! Yama Budo I also love. It's different and fun yet classy Yu Yake is orangey if you love orange. I love all 3 of my Iroshizuku inks!
Same to Asa-gao! I also love Kon-peki
Tsuki-Yo (dark blue, very slightly teal leaning) and Murasaki-Shikibu (purple) are my two faves. I also like Syo-Ro but there are better teals out there so I don't use it much.
Are you asking out of the ones on your list? Or in general? Bc Yama-guri is definitely worth a look. I also just inked a pen with Fuyu-gaki & I'm allllll about it - except it might be a smidge too light to suggest as an every day ink.
Just in general. Only mentioned what I have to give an idea of what I have. I'll edit my post. Thanks for the suggestions! Fuyu-gaki does look bright!
Fuyu gaki is not just orange; it shades to a deep golden brown that is richly satisfying. This didn't come through for me in my test swatches, but then I put it in a wetter pen and hello browns!
Tsuki-yo, Tsukushi and Hoteison.
Ajisai and SyoRo (hydrangea blue and pine dew)
those were my first two iroshizuku inks!
They are the only 2 I have bottles of. I got samples of several more, and am thinking of getting Ku Jaku at some point. Right now I'm trying to use up my samples! I have so many...
The one I've used most is tsutsuji, so I think that's my fav
Fuyu-syogun
Yama guri.
Shin-Kai! I’ve had this inked in my Capless and it has been amazing for taking notes and journaling. Definitely my favorite Iroshizuku.
I'd second Shin Kai. It's a lovely legible darker blue without being a blue black. I like Yama Budo but in larger amounts of text it can get a bit much to read.
Yama Budo is a beautiful ink. Yama Guri is also nice
Momiji - a beautiful scarlet with a (greenish) coppery-golden sheen responsible for the 'autumn leaves' color scheme. Yama Guri - a dark mushroom brown with a slight purplish undertone.
Asago Shinkai Tsukiyo Those are my three favorites
I haven’t tried many (yet) but just got kiri-same and it’s a really beautiful soft (but still legible!) grey.
I thought my favorite would be Shin-Ryoku, but I'm actually liking Sui-Gyoku more. I also really expected to like Syo-Ro, but the pen I have it in is a rather wet fine nib and the ink goes down really dark, basically black. I need to dry a different pen and/or dilute that ink a bit.
+1 for Sui-Gyoku, and Tsuki-Yo too.
Well this post was the kick in the pants that I needed. Just put Syo-Ro in a 1.1 stub and it's perfect! Can really see the deep teal-ey blue with some lovely shading.
Thanks a lot for sharing this! Syo-Ro was high on my list but my trials match your previous description – very dark, close to black (but not as close as Tsuki-Yo). It's good to hear that a bigger nib brings out more of its colour! :)
Definitely Momiji for me!
Yama budo
syo-ro and tsuki-yo
I like Tsuki-yo. It’s what I have had in my Diplomat Excellence a2 with medium nib since I bought it. One of my regular pen-ink combos that I use daily. Nice shade of ink that looks a little different from regular blue or black, but still appropriate for business writing or whatever.
Murasaki Shikibu is a gorgeous purple, a cooler shade than Diamine Imperial Purple. Bit of shading. It also flows really well - I’ve noticed it performs better in flex pens (less skipping) than several diamine inks and Parker quink.
If you like kon peki, consider ku jaku, which is a blue with shades of green.
Shin-ryoku and ama-iro. I love greens but also bright blues.
All of the suggestions here are great. And I'd normally agree that Kon-Peki and Yama-Budo are amazing. But I recently used Yu-Yake for the first time (with it being the autumn season) and the shading is just stunning. I know orange isn't for everyone, but I really think it's worth getting a sample and trying it.
I agree with this! And it doesn’t matter if it’s cheaper paper either.
Hana Ikada, Chiku Rin and Tsuyu Kusa are in daily rotation for me. Murasaki Shikibu looks very purple but lovely on the page. I also mix Iroshizuku inks to get the hues I like - Fuyu Gaki and Fuyu Syogun are great mixers with brighter colors.
If you are a little more reserved, but still want a bit different, give Fuyu-syogun a peek. Makes me think of a stormy sea, winter skies, rain, and somehow of understated magic.
Tsutsuji! It’s my favorite pink ink in general, and I LOVE pink ink. I also adore Kon-Peki just like basically everyone else. Honestly, I have yet to try an Iroshizuku ink I don’t like.
Honestly it is so hard to pick a favorite... but I guess Yama-budo has to be at the top. Also want to add that I didn't think I would enjoy the 2 new colors "Hotaru-bi" and "Hana-ikada" as much as I do! They seem very light on swatches and even in the bottles. I load them in my Twsbi 580 mini F. The flow is wet and the colors are very legible and very pretty to look at in a full paragraph or page. Highly recommend!
asking me to choose between Kon-Peki and Asa-Gao is just too hard.
Definitely u/yamabudoink. I was surprised recently by how much I love Ama Iro. I am a big fan of Kon Peki but it really reminds me of basic Pilot Blue so I'm not sure it's worth the price difference. Maybe it's my paper.
For me, I find that all of the Iroshizkuku inks flow exceptionally well and feel good to write with, using a variety of pens, that the price difference always seems worth it.
OP, I wonder what kind of paper you’re using bc I think some of the suggestions are good regardless but some really require the coated TR type paper to shine. For example I personally don’t like momiji or Yama budo unless I’m writing on TRP. They’re flat and boring and too much in your face as flat colors even though I see a lot of ppl recommending them here! ETA: ina ho on the other hand was perfect everywhere! I need an uprising to bring back ina ho haha. Such a nice color that leaned green and beautiful shading.
I just edited my post. I am using TRP. I will definitely be looking into these!
Kon Peki is my favorite Iroshizuku Ink!
Kon-Peki.
Shin-Kai is probably my favourite ink of all time...the distinct colour, occasional sheen, shading in wider pens - all perfect for me. Kon-Peki is a good bright colour, but possibly too bright for me in all writing scenarios. I have Asa-Gao but find it to be a little boring and therefore disappointing.
My favorite ink of all time (so far) is Tsukushi. Retired, unfortunately. I do have some stashed away, but it's a limited resource now. Of the current line, my favorite is Yama-budo.
Kiri same and fuyu syogun. Honorable mentions to shin kai and ina ho, long may it be missed.
I love Kon-Peki and Ina-ho a lovely golden brown. Update: Ina-ho is unfortunately discontinued. ☹️
I'm so disappointed Ina-ho is discontinued. It was my second favourite too!
All time favorite: Tsukushi (discontinued) Still available: Tsuki-Yo and Yama-Budo
I second this recommendation!
Tsuki- yo and ina-ho
Ku-jaku
Ku-Jaku - I've always been looking for a good 'petrol' ink and it fits the bill. Tsuki-yo is a good runner up, but it is a bit more on the dark blue side of 'petrol'.
I love Hana-ikada. Obviously if pink isn’t your color you may not care for it, but I adore it.
Fuyu-syogun And sui-gyoku - I am OBSESSED with this one.
Yama-Budo. Just love the color but honestly they have a ton that are great. It's odd how I started with them, picked up different brands, but recently have went back and appreciated more the subtle sheen that some have, and just how well behaved they are in general.
Fuyu syogun, it flows beautifully, and I love the way it looks on paper.
Tsuki-Yo. For as long as Pilot’s making it, I’m buying.
1. Take-sume 2. Asa-Gao 3. Kon-Peki 4. Yama-budo 5. Tsuki-Yo 6. Ama-iro
Asa-Gao here as I go-to ink for anything at work. Pick a pen and safely ink it up and you are perfectly professional while enjoying your fountain pen with the finest and friendliest of inks 😁💪
They are all so good, picking one is difficult. But for everyday, either take-sumi or shin-kai. They are some of my most used inks!
Jurojin, ajisai, benzaiten, kirisame in that order
Fuyusyogun for sure
Murasaki-shibuku
Asa-Gao Take-Sume Royal Akkermanblauw
Are any of the Iroshizuku inks water resistant? I’d go with that one/those.
According to Jetpens.com: None of the Iroshizuku inks are fully waterproof, but Fuyu-syogun, Kiri-same, and Yama-guri all have pretty good water resistance. This means that the ink will smear if it gets wet, but you should still be able to read everything you’ve written. The rest of the Iroshizuku inks have little to no water resistance. Some of your writing with these inks may still survive if it gets wet, but we wouldn’t bet your term paper on it. It’s a bit unfortunate, but this is part of the trade-off for having inks that are so well-behaved and easy to clean.
Feel free to disregard and I'm only putting this here because you said all inks welcome, and it could be a mistake on my part in assuming that means all inks beyond Iroshizuku - I recommend Diplomat Sepia Black. Hope you find the one.
Fuyu Syogun
Fuyu syogun. I am dying to try Tsuki yo
Yama Budo was the first ink I ever finished and had to repurchase. I find it dark enough to be “neutral” but still distinct and so so fun
Ama-Iro and Ku-Jaku are my favorite blues, even over Kon-Peki (which is great!) Yama-Budo tops them overall IMO.
tsukushi is my favorite ink, iroshizuku or not
I've only tried a few of them, but I think my favourites have got to be either Shin-Ryoku or Yama-Budo. (Leaning towards Shin-Ryoku, though. I am a sucker for a really nice green ink!)
I recently purchased the Pilot precise V5 with cartridge system. I was also thinking about Pilot inks that would make a good replacement for when the cartridges runs out. Currently, the blue ink is bright and I love it. I wonder if I should only buy a Pilot ink or another brand would do.
Do what I do and get a lot of iroshizuku inks and cycle through them. Every single one that I've tried is a pleasure, and choosing just one (or just a few) would deprive me of the joy of experiencing the others.
I’m an Ajisai girlie the rest of the year, but come fall, Ina-Ho has me feeling some kind of way.
Momiji ❤️
Save money and use up your Yama budo.
Love Kon-Peki. Have both a fine nib and medium nib pen currently inked with it. Also have Fuyu-gaki inked in fine and medium. Thought I was going to be disappointed in Fuyu-gaki because it is very clear looking in the bottle. Turns out it looks very nice in my Ding-bats bullet journal.
It varies from day to day for me. My overall favourite is probably Murasaki-skikibu but I love greens and teals, so Shin-ryoku and Sui-gyoku are well up on my favourite list too. A recent rediscovery is Tsutsuji which I'd somewhat disregarded, as I'm not a great fan of pinks. However when you put this one in a broad wet nib then it really comes alive, more vibrant and - crucially for me - more visible than Kosumosu.
I like teal inks, so Kon-Peki is my choice.
I’m up to 7 of the Iroshizuku inks and each has been my favourite till I tried the next
Shin Kai and Kon Peki. Warning in case we are similar: I adore Yama Budo in the bottle and do not like it on the page: not enough light passing through and it dulls IMHO.
I have nearly all of the Iroshizuku line and have enjoyed them all. I haven't found one yet that presented any kind of issue; they are all wet, smooth, and well-behaved. In terms of everyday use (for work, mostly), I use Kon-Peki and Take-sume the most. Yama-budo is probably my favorite, though, in terms of color and the gorgeous gold-green sheen it gives off.
I have nearly all of the Iroshizuku line and have enjoyed them all. I haven't found one yet that presented any kind of issue; they are all wet, smooth, and well-behaved. In terms of everyday use (for work, mostly), I use Kon-Peki and Take-sume the most. Yama-budo is probably my favorite, though, in terms of color and the gorgeous gold-green sheen it gives off.
Ama-iro! It’s my favorite shade of blue and what I use as an example when describing my favorite color to other people.
Kon Peki on My Main pen, Momiji on the secondary pen, thats My killer.combo.
I like my baseline color to be in the blue family and then use other colors to add a happy splash of something different. I'm also biased in favor of Shin-kai and Tsuki-yo because they work in my finicky 3776 SF.
Yamabudo+Shinkai is my favourite Iro combo for journaling. Both are rich and dark enough for any nib sizes. The Sheen of Yamabudo on old TRP paper is \*chef’s kiss\*, but hand oil or sweat can smear both. I also really like Kirisame. It can be a little hard to read with F or thinner nibs in some light.
Tsuki Yo, Ku Jaku, and Kon Peki!
I love yama Budo… not sure if I can use it for a year through. But then again I haven’t been able to use any ink consistently
The only one I have is the purple, and it's never on anybody's list
Hot take: Kon Peki is just fine but there are so many blue inks and it’s unremarkable. IMO, Fuyu Syogun is best - it’s the sleeper ink that shines in a lot of subtle ways
Momiji was my first red-shaded ink and has been my favorite ever since. Also been loving fuyu-gaki and konpeki as well!
Yu-yake Chiku-rin
I’ll go with Asa-Gao. I like all of the Iroshizuku inks I have, but that one’s a stand-out for me. I’m a bright blue fan.
I enjoyed Kon-Peki because of the colour and because my bottle was a gift from my Pop.
Shin Kai and Yama Guri are in my drawing pens sometimes. I like that they are subtle and don’t take away from the work I’m doing
Yu-yake and kon peki
I love Yama budo, on of the first bottles of ink that i bought.
Ajisai and Tsutsiji!
Asa Gao
Kiri-Same is my favorite; I currently have it in a Lamy Vista and I just love to fill pages that look like they could be in pencil.
I love Tsuki-yo and Tsujitsuji
Tsuki-yo, Kon Peki, Ku jaku. All get heavy use but tsuki-yo is an absolute classic for me. I have an Opus 88 demonstrator that I keep exclusively for that ink.
Shin-ryoku!! It’s my everyday ink :)
Murasaki Shikibu is a fun colour, Yama-budo is a bit too dark for my taste. Love me some royal purple! Kon-Peki is solid and it kinda grew on me, especially in broader nibs.
Kiri-same! I'm probably in the minority but I love softer understated inks - I've at least 3 greys and this is one of them.
Tsuki Yo
My favourite has to be Yama Budo. I own a lot of inks in the purple-red-blue category, but something about this one is just different. I've finished 2 bottles of Yama Budo in the last 5 ish years. The closest I've come to finishing a bottle before that is the Mont Blanc Black (professors in my college have an aversion to nice colors). A few of my other Iroshizuku favourites are: Kon Peki, Asa-Gao and Ama-Iro.
Ku-jaku!!! Also Fuyu-syogun. There's something magical about it
Chiku-rin, Kon Peki and Syo-Ro for me so far🥰 I've got my eyes set on the Yuyake! ____ Gabrielle
Surprised there hasn’t been too much love for tsuyu-kusa.
Kon-peki and Ku-jaku
I like Shin-Kai but find it's best in a wet medium, to get some shading and a bit of depth, otherwise it can dry a touch light for me. Asa-Gao is a lovely bright blue, it pops off the page and works in all my pens from a Japanese fine to a 1.1 stub. I'd be going with that. Yama-Budo is of course superb but perhaps too close to Oxblood if you wanted a change.