Kyo No Oto - Koke-iro

Kyo No Oto - Koke-iro - ink drop

Today’s ink is a stunner! In every way, it’s a beautiful ink and a pleasure to use. Koke-iro is part of Takeda Jimuki’s Kyo No Oto line of inks made for their Kyoto-based TAG stationery stores. Meaning “the color of moss and lichen”, this ink instantly inspires feelings of burgeoning life. It has the glow and vibrancy of health and youth.

Kyo No Oto - Koke-iro - ink color range

This is my favorite category of greens. There’s an intrinsic, inherent appeal to the varied shades and tones. And varied they are! This is a glorious, prolific shading ink. Ranging from the light, almost translucent yellow green of fresh sprouts and new shoots, to the deep, verdant olive greens of flourishing floral health, it’s a beautiful, expressive ink.

As a writing ink, Koke-iro performs very well. Even on cheap office copy paper, there were no signs of feather or bleed. Drying time on my swatch card was a bit long (40-45 sec.), but on all of the usual premium fountain pen friendly papers I use for testing, it actually dried reasonably quickly (15-20 sec.). This isn’t the wettest ink, but there were none of the problems typically associated with many drier inks.

Kyo No Oto - Koke-iro - ink swatch card

Koke-iro is both a pleasure to use, and a pleasure to read. The first time that I inked it up and put pen to paper, I found myself almost immediately stopping to admire the beautiful shading. On more than one occasion, I felt myself smiling broadly, and heard myself saying, “Wow!” I think Kyo No Oto Koke-iro will wow you, too!

September 2020