review: sailor jentle yama-dori

Here's the third of the three Sailor Jentle inks I own!

Sailor Jentle inks come in this flat, circular bottle with a conical insert. The insert, which is removable, makes it easier for you to fill your pens. I've found that, when you shake this ink, large bubbles form and are rather difficult to get rid of; I would suggest shaking the ink to mix it all up and setting it aside for five minutes or so before filling your pen, otherwise you'll have to deal with quite a few air bubbles. Also, the foam insert inside the cap tends to stick to the rim of the bottle.

Sailor Jentle inks have a smell. I don't quite know how to describe it. It's slightly, sweet? It's not an unpleasant smell to me, and it's not strong unless you stick your nose in the bottle or something, but it's definitely there.

Yama-dori translates to "copper pheasant." I looked up pictures of copper pheasants, and I believe males of this species can have dark teal feathers. However, I've always thought of this ink as one that evokes peacocks. It is a teal/turquoise color, more blue than green.

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Yama-dori isn't waterproof at all. Most of it disappears quite readily when exposed to water.

It takes just under thirty seconds to dry, which is pretty good on Kokuyo MIO paper for such a sheeny ink.

The ink has a wonderful amount of shading, particularly in broader nibs. It also has a beautiful red sheen. It's even visible in fine nibs!

Just look at that sheen.

Listen, I have a lot of blue-black and dark teal inks. Sailor Jentle Yama-dori is close to Diamine Twilight and Colorverse Extra Dimension. I can't even list all of the other inks I have here. It's a problem.

I have this ink in my Lamy Petrol with a medium nib, and I love the combination. It's a sheener for sure, with a healthy amount of shading. It has a nice wet flow, which is partially due to my Lamy being a fairly wet writer. However, It's a nice combination for sure.

Like I said in my review for Tokiwa-matsu, I'm not sure if I would buy another bottle of Yama-dori simply because I have so many dang inks. I deeply considered purchasing a second bottle during my trip to Taipei, where Japanese inks are much cheaper than in the U.S., but I decided not to. Yama-dori is one of my favorite colors though, so we'll see if I suffer from a heavy bout of FOMO (fear of missing out) and ask my family members to bring me back a bottle.

Where to buy

• JetPens: bottle
• Pen Chalet: bottle / sample
• Wonder Pens: bottle + sample

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This post was updated on 1/12/20 to match my current review methodology.