Sailor Kobe Bottled Ink - Kaikyo Blue #7

Kaikyo Blue is a blue-black with a prominent coppery-reddish sheen visible in heavily saturated areas and in some normal writing with pens having generous flow. The ink is dark enough to be more than a dark blue ink like J. Herbin Bleu des Profondeurs. It is more along the lines of Diamine 150th Anniversary 1864 Blue-Black or Aurora Blue-Black. Bungubox 4B, Sailor Blue-Black, J. Herbin Bleu de Minuit and Röhrer & Klingner Verdigris are greener, to my eye.

Kaikyo Blue’s saturation ranges from medium to high and is dependent on pen and paper combo. It is richly saturated and doesn’t feel thin under the nib. I usually shy away from sheening inks that overpower their base colour, but Kaikyo Blue doesn’t take over in my Sailor 1911L 21kt H-MF and H-B nibs, which are wet writers, though the H-B is the broadest I would use it in—keeping in mind that it’s a Japanese broad hard nib.

Like most Kobe inks I’ve tried, this ink worked flawlessly and rinsed out cleanly and easily from my converters with water, albeit after quite a bit of flushes.

I prefer blue-blacks that lean red, not green—so I guess that would make them navy, wouldn’t it? Kaikyo Blue doesn’t lean either way; it is rather a neutral blue-black, with the blue component of the colour coming through.