Iroshizuku Bottled Fountain Pen Ink, Ku-Jaku, Peacock (Turquoise) 50ml Bottle (69213)

The colour of this -- dark turquoise or peacock blue, depending on how you want to translate it -- is exquisite, first of all. A deep, saturated ink that isn't so flashy that it can't be used in a professional setting. It writes well, getting a touch lighter when the pen needs a refill, and it doesn't smear, feather, or bleed. This is my first bottle of Pilot ink, and it certainly won't be my last. The bottle itself is a lovely thing and it sits with my pen, since I write with a heavier hand (a bad habit) and need to refill my pen frequently. The elegance of the bottle makes that far from a hardship. The descriptions from Pilot are marvellously evocative, and the ink delivers on what they depict. A lovely, functional, good value ink.

ink quality is superb and the color a feast for the eye of course made in japan you can expect nothing less than perfect will buy again been using it since over 15 years

Gosh this is such a pretty color. My life is slowly devolving as I delve in to the world of fountain pens. So far I only own the Pilot Metropolitan (in fine) and the Lamy Safari (in extra fine) because I really only wanted to use the pens for drawing and they seemed suitable enough. I tried this ink (Ku-Jaku) in both pens, but I prefer it in the Safari because I can get thinner lines with it for my sketches. I also own Noodler's Bulletproof Black, but I could never seem to make it write smoothly at all with the Safari...even with cleanings and stuff. Other people have been able to, apparently, so maybe I just have a slightly faulty nib? Either way, I use the Bulletproof Black with my Metropolitan because it writes thicker and the Ku-Jaku with the Safari. I'm happy with that arrangement. I've only used it on notebook paper, printer paper, sketchbook paper (strathmore?), and watercolor paper. It doesn't dry all that quickly, and it does feather very slightly on some of the words/letters when using it on printer and notebook paper. It's not like they're high quality paper anyway, so I don't really mind. It probably helps that my Safari writes very thinly. I love how the ink looks more green in certain light, and more blue in others. That's my favorite ever. The bottle is beautiful too. I want to try more colors eventually, but with the price tag I wont be buying them all willy-nilly just to see what they look like. However, it's definitely worth getting if you're on the fence about trying one.

Wonderful Product!

Someone below said this is a gateway drug. I completely agree. These inks are not all that expensive for the enjoyment you will derive. If you have a nice pen, you should have nice ink. Ku jaku (which they also call peacock) is a blue that doesn't look like everyman's ball point blue. This has a good dose of green in it, so it has a vintage appearance, like letters I've seen in official British correspondence from the 1930s. A really nice vintage look on paper, and although it is lighter in tone than a dark navy blue, this shade stands out on white paper. and is easily distringuished from black print. So I use it for editing and marking my associates' legal writing when I need to use a pen. I notice that this formulation migrates to the top of the nib and stands as a film unlike cheaper Lamy ink. Also, I had a converter filling mishap and also learned that this ink stains skin for about 24 hours. Harder to wash off than sharpie in my experience. Take care wtih filling.

This is a very beautiful ink. It looks very deep blue when it is first applied and then it turns more teal in color. It reminds me of an old ink named Peacock Blue, which is no longer available. Unlike blue/black inks which are dead, this color is alive and vibrant. I am using it in a very fine vintage 18k Mont Blanc 149, which was just overhauled and it has great flow. It certainly does not skip. It appears to take a bit longer to dry than my Pelikan Turquoise, which in comparison, while lighter in color is also lighter in density. The shipping was very prompt. The price of this ink is high, but that is offset by the free shipping. If this same ink is purchased from, for example, Malasia, it is much less, but when the shipping is added, the price is about the same and the ink appears at the door much faster since our government has placed liquid restrictions on air freight, so, it is my understanding, the ink has to travel by ground. I have one pen (a Pelikan 1000) filled with Pelikan Turquoise and one ( Mont Blanc 149) filled with ku-jaku. They both are beautiful inks, but the ku-jaku has more depth, is more interesting, and appears more formal. Ku-jaku also copies better then the turquois.

Would have given it 5 stars but I was sent Syo-ro instead of Ku-jaku. That said, I’m actually really happy with the wrong color I got. A nice green/blue/teal color. All of the Iroshizuku inks are really wet and beautiful. No matter what color you get there’s always something to enjoy whether that’s the color itself or how well it flows in your pen. These are great inks.

The ink arrived in perfect condition, in a nice silver box and secured in a plastic bag. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks to be a beautiful shade of blue. And you get a good amount of ink in a really nice, heavyweight bottle.