Nara Ink

Even after the capital moved to the Kyoto area in 794, Nara remained a place of religious significance with many Buddhist temples. Much ink was needed for tasks such as sutra transcription, and there were abundant forest resources nearby to provide the carbon soot that is the ink’s raw material. Nara, therefore remained a site of high-quality ink production. In the Nara, Heian and Kamakura periods, shōen—soot from pine, which has a high resin content—was the preferred material for Nara ink. This was obtained by chopping pine wood into small pieces and burning it in a stove.

Ink is indispensable for those responsible for administration and culture. For this reason, ink was produced all over Japan in ancient times. Circumstances changed, however; there is a reason that Nara became famous for ink production. This is because, at the beginning of the Muromachi period, a monk at the Kōfuku-ji Temple tried making ink out of the soot from votive oil lamps lit in front of the Buddha statues. This gave rise to lamp soot ink (yūen zumi), made from soot obtained from such lamps. Yūen zumi became the most commonly used ink because it gave a deep black color. Nara, with its early adoption of lamp soot ink production, became known as place where high-quality ink was made, a reputation that it maintains to this day.

When kneading is finished, the ink is pressed into the compartments of wooden frame molds and clamped in place. This forms sticks of ink of the desired shapes. These wooden frame molds may be carved with various traditional designs and lettering—these patterns are in turn impressed into the soft ink. The ink sticks split and crack if they dry out too quickly, so they are then covered in wood ashes in a temperature-controlled area to allow their moisture to extract slowly over a period of between about 10 and 30 days.

Ink is perhaps the most fundamental medium in East Asian calligraphy and painting. Before starting work, a calligrapher or painter turns to the inkstone and, while clearing his or her mind, grinds the ink stick back and forth along the wet stone to make ink. Only after the ink has been thus prepared can the creative process of writing or painting begin. In order to enhance artistic inspiration during this essential process of ink preparation, ink sticks have often been embellished with delicate designs. This tradition is continued today, as evident from the wide variety of elegantly artistic sticks of ink.