Ishimaru Bunkyodo Nagasaki Scenic Beauty Ink Gunkanjima Sunset Gray 20ml

Capture the twilight mood of Nagasaki with Gunkanjima Sunset Gray ink from Ishimaru Bunkodo. This dye-based fountain pen ink comes in a compact 20ml bottle and paints your page in a subtle brown-gray shade, inspired by evening light washing over the concrete skyline of Gunkanjima. The ink was selected for the Nagasaki Design Award 2025.

Part of the Nagasaki Bikei series, which translates the city's scenery into ink colors, this shade draws on one of Nagasaki's most striking landmarks. Gunkanjima, known officially as Hashima Island, sits about 19km southwest of Nagasaki Port and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015 as part of the Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution. Coal was discovered there in the late Edo period, and by 1890 the island was operating as a full-scale undersea coal mine, supplying high-quality raw material for steelmaking. Its nickname comes from the way its surrounding sea walls and rows of high-rise apartments resemble the silhouette of the warship Tosa. This ink captures the brown-gray glow of sunset falling across that industrial skyline.

Since its 2018 debut, the Nagasaki Bikei line came only in generous 50ml bottles. As of July 2025, the whole 16-color series has been resized to a more approachable 20ml, easy to line up beside your pens or display on a desk without taking up too much space.

The packaging got a refresh to match. Each box has a soft-textured finish stamped with a clear foil map of Nagasaki you can feel under your fingers, along with a new, warmer logo rendered in silver foil in the lower corner. A hand-painted color sample on the side of the bottle shows you the exact shade at a glance, no guesswork required.