Hirayama Mannendo - Hirosaki Red Brick

Hirayama Mannendo - Hirosaki Red Brick - Ink drop

This is a well-loved ink, but it is not very easy to find. In or outside Japan, it takes effort, luck, or a bit of both. Hirosaki Red Brick is part of a Sailor store-exclusive series for stationery store Hirayama Mannendo. Located in Hirosaki, in Aomori, the northern-most prefecture on Japan’s largest island, Honshu, it’s four and a half hours by train from Tokyo. Like many smaller stationery shops in Japan, although they do have an IG account (@hirayama_mannendo), they don’t have a website. Unless you find a reseller, you can’t get these inks online. You have to get lucky, or buy a train ticket to get this prized ink.

Hirayama Mannendo - Hirosaki Red Brick fountain pen ink

The name Hirosaki Red Brick comes from the red brick warehouse well-known in Hirosaki. Formerly a sake brewery, today it is home to the Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art. The ink is a blend of brick red and a hint of plum. My first thought was of Diamine Oxblood, but there’s a touch more plum here. It’s an immediately comfortable color to my eye. I always have a pen inked with Oxblood, but I can see myself alternating between these two now.

Ink Swatches on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River

I found consistent shading from medium to dark. There’s a lot of good variation despite the limited range. You’ll also find nice traces of brassy sheen on saturated stroke ends on some papers, but not on most. This ink is much more about the color and the performance consistency.

Writing sample on Cosmo Air Snow paper

This is a Sailor ink, and it performs flawlessly! Clean and sharp strokes are consistent across paper-types. It’s moderately wet without being watery at all. It’s very comfortable on the page. Drying times were quite fast, too! This is a very nice writing ink. It’s the kind of ink that Sailor does very, very well.

Hirayama Mannendo - Hirosaki Red Brick ink writing samples

The final detail is the bottle. It comes in Sailor’s iconic, and increasingly difficult to find vase bottle. It’s really a shame that they’ve largely moved away from such an elegant design.

Hirayama Mannendo - Hirosaki Red Brick - Swatch Card

The Hirosaki series has been around since 2018, but it remains sought after today, and for good reason. If you have a chance to get a bottle of Hirosaki Red Brick, definitely do! And if you find yourself in Aomori, stop by Hirayama Mannendo and grab a few!

Hirayama Mannendo - Hirosaki Red Brick - Swatch Comparisons

Hirayama Mannendo - Hirosaki Red Brick - 50 ml Ink Bottle