Pilot Iroshizuku Fountain Pen Ink 15ml - Murasaki-shikibu (Japanese Beautyberry)
The name Iroshizuku is a compound of two Japanese words: "iro," meaning coloring, and "shizuku," meaning droplet. Together they form something close to "drops of colour" - and it is a name the line lives up to. Launched by Pilot in 2007, the Iroshizuku series draws each of its colours from the natural landscapes and botanical life of Japan, giving every shade a specific identity and depth that goes well beyond a generic colour category.
Murasaki-shikibu takes its name from the Japanese beautyberry (Callicarpa japonica), a shrub that grows wild across Japan and produces clusters of vivid violet fruit in autumn. The ink matches that colour closely: a rich, genuine purple that carries the warmth of the berry itself. The name also carries a literary resonance - Murasaki Shikibu was the Heian-era author of The Tale of Genji, widely regarded as one of the world's first novels. It is a fitting name for an ink made to be written with.
The colour itself is a beautifully gentle medium purple with subtle red influences - not a cool violet, but something friendlier and more complex. There is shading from lighter to darker across a letterform, which adds personality to longer passages of handwriting. A faint brassy sheen can be seen in pooled ink, though it stays restrained in normal use. The result is a purple that reads clearly and confidently on the page without tipping into anything garish.
The flow is wet, and the ink dries in approximately 15 seconds through a medium nib on quality paper. It is forgiving through a range of nib sizes, though finer nibs on smoother papers will reward you with the clearest colour expression. On more absorbent papers, some feathering is possible, as it is with most dye-based inks.
The bottle is one of the more thoughtful pieces of design in the fountain pen world. Each bottle is made from heavy clear glass and features a conical recess at the base. As the ink level drops, tilting the bottle collects the remaining ink into this recess, making it easy to fill your pen right down to the last millilitre. The 15ml format is the smallest in the Iroshizuku range, making it an excellent way to explore the colour before committing to a larger bottle, or simply to keep a compact supply at a secondary desk or in a travel kit.
Ink properties at a glance:
Iroshizuku inks are formulated to be safe for use in fine fountain pens, including those at the higher end of the price range where ink quality genuinely matters. The water-based formula is low in odour and designed to be kind to feeds and nibs with regular use.
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