Ink Swatch - Pilot Iroshizuku - To-ro

Pilot Iroshizuku To-ro (“warm lantern”) is a warm yellow-orange ink with a little shading and some orange sheen.

You’re not having Déjà Vu, this is not the same ink as Diamine Sunshine Yellow! To-ro is slightly more orange, a little darker in some cases, and like many other Iroshizuku inks, its flow is a bit wet.

Scans

The scans came out a lot darker orange no matter what settings I used. It isn’t nearly this dark or this orange. I had the exact same problem with Diamine Sunshine Yellow and other light inks.

Swatch Card Scans. Click to enlarge.

Photos

The photos are much closer to how it appears in to the eye. I’m not entirely sure the reflective parts are true sheen, but it seems much more reflective than other inks that just got darker in the same areas and it seemed to behave more like typical sheen.

Swatch Card Photos. Click to enlarge.

Microscope

These are also much more representative of its true color. It is very close to Sunshine Yellow, but there are some key differences especially in the large swatch areas.

Ink under Magnification. Click to enlarge.

Chromatography

Chromatography strip scan

It’s mostly a faint yellow until the end where it fades into narrow bands of red-orange, yellow, then orange again at the edge.

Chromatography strip photo under UV light

There is a little glow from the yellow band, but not much.

UV Check

Swatch Card Photos under visible and UV light. Click to enlarge.

Unlike Sunshine Yellow, this only emits a dull glow from the large swatch and cap swab.

Verdict

Given the similarities between this and Diamine Sunshine Yellow, you can most likely pick either one and be happy with the choice. You can pick based on wet vs dry flow, or which one fluoresces better.

I don’t regret buying it. However, had I known exactly how similar it was to Sunshine Yellow before I made the purchase I probably would have skipped it, opted for a smaller bottle, or obtained a sample instead. I’ll still find uses for both, however.