Taccia - Ukiyoe - Akasakura

Taccia - Ukiyo-e - Akasakura - Ink drop

From Taccia’s Ukiyo-e series, Akasakura is one of four inks inspired by the artist Sharaku Toshusai. Widely considered one of the world’s great master portrait artists, his works largely feature kabuki actors and their exaggerated expressions. One of the great mysteries of the art world, he was active for only 2 years (1794-1795), created 140 pieces during that time, and then disappeared completely.

Taccia - Ukiyo-e - Akasakura - Color Range

Akasakura translates as red cherry, but I don’t think the name captures the complexity of this color. It’s a red, with heavy influences of both pink and orange. The color changes depending on the paper, too. It’s a nice shading ink, with lights that lean pink-red, and darks that bring out a deeper crimson. As the splatter shows, there’s a nice edge halo. You can also clearly see the strange, black fungus-like spider-webbing that branches out from the splatter’s edges. I’ve only seen this with a handful of other inks, and it isn’t pleasant. In this case, it occurred on some papers, but not on others.

Taccia - Ukiyo-e - Akasakura - Uneven Edging

As a writing ink, results were mixed. It’s very nice on Kokuyo, Fabriano, and good on office copy, too. On these, strokes were clean and sharp, with very nice shading, and a strong, defining halo. However, on Rhodia, Mnemosyne, and Apica the bleeding and spider-webbing was a real distraction. Drying was all over the place. It was a quick 5 seconds on office copy, and 10 on Fabriano, but went up to 25 or more on Kokuyo!

Taccia - Ukiyo-e - Akasakura - Shades of Red

Taccia Akasakura is a beautiful red ink with lovely shading. If you stick with compatible papers, it’s a nice writing ink, too. If that’s not possible, take a look at another red from Taccia’s Ukiyo-e series, Benizakura.

Taccia - Ukiyo-e - Akasakura - Ink Swatch Card