Nagasawa Kobe Ink Monogatari Arima Amber - 4ml Fountain Pen Ink Sample

Hue: Officially an amber or golden brown, and the box label is a warm golden amber. My swatches are noticeably redder and browner than that: a rich rust or red-brown in the swabs, and a burnt orange-brown in writing. If you’re expecting a golden amber, this is darker and warmer.

Shading: Low to moderate. There’s a soft light-to-dark shift in the writing, and an orange halo at the edges of heavier swabs.

Sheen: None seen. The swabs pool to dark, near-black edges, but there’s no colour-shift sheen.

Shimmer: None.

Flow: Medium.

The interesting bit: Arima Onsen, in the hills behind Kobe, is one of Japan’s oldest hot springs and appears in the Nihon Shoki, Japan’s oldest chronicle of history. Its famous “kinsen” (gold spring) water is iron-rich and runs a rusty amber-brown, which is the colour this ink takes its name from. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of Japan’s great unifiers, was a devoted visitor.

This is a hand-decanted 4ml sample vial from my own bottle.
Photos are my own swatches on Tomoe River Paper.
I’m a collector and I’m always happy to talk ink, so please message me if you have any questions.