Nagasawa Kobe Ink Monogatari Yuhobika Blue - 4ml Fountain Pen Ink Sample

Hue: Officially a calm blue with a slight greenish tint. On my swatches it reads as a deeper, more muted teal-blue than “slight greenish tint” suggests, and in wetter strokes and pooled areas the heavy burgundy sheen can take over much of the colour.

Shading: Moderate. The swab bar moves between lighter and deeper teal, though in heavier ink the sheen tends to take over before the shading does.

Sheen: Heavy burgundy-red. It floods the pooled swabs, shows at the ends of the swab bar, and comes through in wetter written strokes. In finer, drier lines the teal dominates.

Shimmer: None.

Flow: Medium

The interesting bit: A special colour in Nagasawa’s Kobe INK Monogatari range, inspired by the historic coastal city of Akashi. “Yuhobika” is an archaic Japanese word for a relaxed, calm appearance. It was used to describe Akashi’s scenery in the Wakamurasaki chapter of The Tale of Genji. The box art is by Shin Tanaka, an Akashi-based painter who uses sand from the local sea as the base of his paintings.

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.