sumi　墨

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Ink. Ink was made from lampblack, soot susu 煤 produced by the incomplete combustion of aged pine wood (the product is called shouenboku 松煙墨) or plant oil (the product is called yuenboku 油煙墨) mixed with glue *nikawa 膠. Fragrance and other compounds were sometimes added to the mixture to form a paste that was dried in molds of various shapes and sizes--round, square, oblong, oval, cylindrical, or more unorthodox shapes, such as human figures, fish, musical instruments, fans, etc. Ink can be made in various "shades" such as grey, purple, blue and brown tones depending on the materials and production. The sticks may then be decorated with inscriptions, such as name of the ink and/or poems. The stick form of ink was then ground on stones *suzuri 硯 and mixed with water to form liquid ink. It is thought that the earliest form of ink was made in China from charcoal, soot, or coal which was ground and added to glue or lacquer. Black pigments were used to decorate Neolithic pottery from the 3rd-2nd millennium BC, and writing in vermilion "ink" remains on Shang-Yin oracle bones of the 13c BC. Black ink writing also appears on bamboo and wooden slats from around 400-200 BC, but true ink, made from pine soot mixed with glue and formed into sticks, was produced in China during the 1-2c AD. A Chinese inkstick in the shape of a boat, dated 716. in red on the back, is preserved in the *Shousouin 正倉院, Nara. In Japan, the earliest manufacture of ink is recorded in the 7c NIHONSHOKI 日本書紀. However, black and colored pigments remain on the wall paintings in tombs of the Kofun period, so it is likely that the use of ink in Japan predates these remains. The earliest regions to produce ink were Nara and Kyoto, but records suggest that Tanba 丹波 and Harima 播磨 (present-day Hyougo prefecture) and areas in Kyuushuu 九州 were also significant producers of ink during the 8-12c. From the 12-14c, the Tanba, Kii 紀伊 (Wakayama prefecture), Oumi 近江 (Shiga prefecture) and Awaji 淡路 Island (Hyougo prefecture) regions also gained fame for ink production. It is said that plant-oil soot was first used for ink production in the early 15c by a monk at Koufukuji 興福寺, Nara. During the Edo period there was a renewed interest among scholars and artists in writing accoutrements for use as well as for collection. Old and rare inks were imported from China and catalogues of sumi were published. Ink production in the Nara, Kii and Owari 尾張 (Aichi prefecture) regions. Ink production in Japan today, for the most part, uses soot from cheap, inorganic sources and depends more on science that on the technique of the artisan to create quality materials.

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