review: nagasawa kobe #47 aotani cascade green

We're looking at another Nagasawa Kobe ink today!

The Nagasawa PenStyle Kobe Ink Monogatari is a very long name that is often shortened simply to Nagasawa Kobe Ink. It's an exclusive ink line made by Sailor for Nagasawa Kobe, a stationery store in Kobe, Japan. The inks are based off of noteworthy features and formations in the city of Kobe. I imagine that Aotani Cascade Green is named after waterfalls in Aotani, a district in Kobe, but whether or not there are actually cascades there is a matter that Googling could not figure out.

Nagasawa's inks used to be much more difficult to get, since your only options were to go the stores in Japan or order them from a middleman ordering service, but the inks are now sold in quite a number of North American retailers.

The inks come in the old Sailor bottles, a squat circular container with a plastic cone insert. The cone is supposed to help you fill your pen, since you would turn the bottle upside down (capped, of course), which would then fill the cone. It seems its a divisive feature, since many people end up removing it.

Aotani Cascade Green is a darker turquoise that leans more green than blue.

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This ink took more than 30 seconds to dry, but less than 60. I would say that it was dry around hte 45 second mark. In my waterproof test, it hung on better than I thought it would, but I wouldn't consider it a waterproof ink at all.

Like other blue-greens that I'll compare Aotani Cascade Green to, this ink shades quite nicely. It isn't particularly dramatic, but I do like the way that it is definitely there. For me, shading helps the readability of a lighter ink like this one.

On Tomoe River paper, there's a very slight amount of red sheen. It's most visible on dark letters like the "i" in light, though you'll have to zoom in to see it.

I thought I would have more blue-greens! But many of them are far more blue than green. J. Herbin Vert Réséda looks neon as per usual, but it's the closest ink that I have. In reality, it is much less bright, as well as just slightly bluer than Aotani Cascade Green. They're very close, though. SKB Shilu is more green and deeper. Diamine Marine is more blue and also slightly deeper.

I had this ink in my Lamy Al-Star Bluegreen with a 1.1mm nib. They were a great match, not only in terms of the flow I like but also the color! I didn't have a problem with the ink, and it flushed out easily when I finished my fill.

Bafflingly, Nagasawa Kobe inks are currently cheaper than Sailor's normal line! So if you like Sailor inks but don't want to pay a bunch of dollars for a tiny 20 ml bottle, I would recommend these inks. There are about 20 trillion inks (okay, about fifty) in the line, so you're sure to find something you like.

Where to buy

I purchased this sample from Pen Chalet.

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

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