Kyo No Oto Bottled Fountain Pen Ink (40mL) - Nurebairo

Ink

Loaded this into my TWSBI miniAL 'F' for using in my daily notebooks. Its the first black I've tried so have no comparison, but the flow is nice and I can use it on "regular paper" with no bleed through which makes me happy.

One complaint is if I pause in writing without capping my pen the ink will dry at the nib and I'll have to work the first few characters or a side scribble to get it flowing again.

I purchased this after seeing many reviews describe it as a very black black. It is not. It is very obviously a very dark blue - I think of it as stormy seas black. Beautiful but not a true black, especially when compared to Aurora Black (though Aurora Black is slightly grayish and not that saturated). The blackest black I could find is Caran d'Ache's Carbon Black. Intensely pure black.

Also, this ink was not well-behaved (skipping, poor flow) in two of my Watermans, but seems better in my Parker Duofold.

I bought a sample of 9 different black inks. I am very particular about wanting a true, deep black for my fountain pens. I read a lot of reviews that Aurora Black was the blackest, or some suggestions for different Noodler's blacks, or Diamine. None! of! them! were black enough (and some were basically grey, blegh), including Aurora - which receives a lot of online praise. A smudge test with Aurora and Kyo No Oto Nurebairo appears to show Aurora as blacker. However, my experience actually writing with both inks in a fountain pen is that KNON comes out as a truer, richer black. Best black, now the only black I will use.