Ink Review - Iroshizuku Yama-Budo

I have been excited to try this ink for quite a while.  Depending on the batch you get, Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses can be a near twin for Yama-Budo.  And, since my bottle of BSiAR did not manage to make the trip with us to Virginia, this sample (courtesy of my friend Paul, thank you sir) is the only immediate access I have to such a lovely color.

I have mostly been using Yama-Budo for grading over the past week, which means lots of writing on cheap copy paper and in various grades of composition books.  Overall, it's very well behaved and only shows a bit of line fuzziness on the worst of papers.  I actually might like it a bit better on cheaper stock, as more ink gets soaked into the page and results in a more saturated color that leans towards purple.  It's hard to see in the scan above (which was done on Tomoe River), but the ink seemed a bit dull once it dried.

Overall, I have a hard time saying anything bad about Yama-Budo.  At the same time, I won't be purchasing a full bottle any time soon.  Yes, I like the color, but obviously I did not like it enough to bring my bottle of BSiAR with me because I just don't reach for it that much.  It's not very professional, but I do think it can find a happy place on an ink shelf if you are looking for a fun ink to use for correspondence or you want an ink to grade in that isn't red.