Sailor Kiwa-Guro is a pure black pigmented ink, which means it’s highly water-resistant. This an ink that useful for artists and anyone else looking for a permanent fountain pen ink. It’s one of our best black fountain pens inks of all time.
Sailor Kiwa-Guro is mostly sold in 50 ml glass bottles, but it is sold in proprietary Sailor cartridges as well.
This is called an “ultra-nano” ink because the pigments are ground to the smallest size possible. This means that Kiwa-guro will not clog fountain pens in the way that the pigmented inks of yesteryear were known to do. Similarly this ink is relatively easy to clean out of a fountain pen, requiring no special cleaning solution to remove from deep within a pen’s feed.
Sailor Kiwa-Guro fountain pen is often noted for having a slight smell to it, which tends to remind one of a copy machine or laser printer cartridge.
Kiwa-Guro is a well-behaved, reliable ink that starts properly every time and doesn’t feel wet. If anything the ink feels a bit on the dry side and pairs nicely with all nib sizes, even broader ones. It is definitely a thicker ink though, so if you pen runs very dry this might not be an ideal match. It’s relatively quick drying and not prone to bleeding or feathering.
If you want a permanent fountain pen ink and you want it to be black, this is probably the top choice, even over Platinum’s popular Carbon Black.
Does Kiwa-Guro Ink Clog?
While, in the past, pigmented ink has often caused clogging in fountain pen nibs and feeds that is not the case with Sailor’s modern pigmented inks, including Kiwa-guro. So while pigmented ink does has small particles of color agents in them instead of using dyes, this isn’t a problem here. Sailor uses specialty-made nano-pigments that aren’t prone to clogging in the way the pigmented inks of yesterday used to.
This means Kiwa-guro is a permanent, water-resistant ink that is safe for use in art and on checks, but it won’t clog your fountain pen. It’s also not particularly difficult to clean!
Sailor Kiwa-Guro Pigmented Ink Information
| Street Price | Check Price |
| Manufacturer | Sailor |
| Ink Color | Black |
| Secondary Color | Black |
| Bottle Size | 50 ml |
| Waterproof | Yes |
| Archival | Yes |
| Quick-drying | No |
| Tamper-proof | No |
| Fluorescent | No |
| Lubricated | No |
| Cartridge | Yes |
| Cartridge Type | Sailor |
| Similar To | |