Sailor Jentle Four Seasons Yama-dori - 4ml Fountain Pen Inks Sample

Hue: A dark, blue-leaning teal. Sailor and most describe it as a medium teal; on Tomoe River my swatches run darker than that — the writing sample and dip-pen bar read close to a teal-tinged blue-black, and only the thinner drops show the lighter turquoise. The other divergence is how far the red takes over: in pooled areas my swabs read oxblood-burgundy first and teal second, so the drops look far more plum than the official "teal" description would lead you to expect.

Shading: Strong. The bar moves from light turquoise at the thin edges down to near-black where the ink sits heaviest, and broader or stubbed nibs show it best. Very wet nibs can flood it out.

Sheen: Intense red-burgundy, and the main reason this ink has the reputation it does. It appears even in finer lines on smooth paper and dominates completely in pooled ink, as the drops in my photos show. It does mean the ink stays smeary until fully dry.

Shimmer: None.

Flow: Wet.

The interesting bit: 山鳥 (yama-dori) literally means "mountain bird" and refers to the Japanese copper pheasant, a bird found only in Japan, with coppery-red plumage and an absurdly long barred tail. Which makes the naming a small joke on the collector: the ink itself is teal, but the bird is in the sheen. Yama-dori arrived in 2014 when Sailor overhauled the Jentle line as "Colors of Four Seasons," replacing several much-mourned older colours — it was one of the few new ones that won people over immediately, and it survived the later move into the Shikiori range. This sample is decanted from the earlier 50ml Four Seasons bottle pictured.

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.