Ink Making Manually, Big Buddhas in Temple

SSF author shares Japanese travel experience & tour.

Nara city produces 90% of ink in Japan. There are only eight masters left doing ink manually.

Ink is usually bought not made for my calligraphy workshops.

Black ink is important in Eastern and Western calligraphy. Though I’d taken a lot of calligraphy workshops , most focused on making scripts and designs. What a delight it was , one of the optional tour was on how to make ink manually, a tradition started centuries ago.

Nowadays ink is made in factories and machines using rubber tires and plastic to make soot.

Handmade ink is special and expensive. Kinkoen method uses traditional methods and materials not machines.

Before entering the Master’s house, we were asked to leave our shoes outside. There are only 8 masters in Japan that make ink manually.

He explained his materials on his table as we sat around him.
Sumi ink has simple recipe, soot or carbon from burned wood. water& gelatin, vegetable oil, perfume.

First, burn wood like pine or bamboo in a “kawarage” , a pot . Then collect the soot formed on top of the lid . Mix the gelatin and water for four hours(prepared ahead), then add the soot.

Master kneaded mixture like dough until it is formed like a sausage. After he placed the sausaged mix into a mold , until it becomes a rectangular stick , the put it on a presser. Some masters knead the mixture with their feet.

While the stick is still soft, the master asked his students to grip stick with your hands so the student can imprint his fingers on the ink stick, so it’s uniquely the student or yours. We’ve to clean our hands with a wet towel to remove black soot. Each of us were given a box to put our gripped ink as a souvenir. Master told us to put box in a dark place and not to open box after three months. I can’t really used this ink because handmade ink takes three to ten years to dry. Hard stick needs a lot of glue. Sumi stick can be used up to 1000 years of writing when properly made.

Ink can also be used for tattoo and detailed painting.

An assistant laid down sticks for us to buy . Master said that Sumi inks are 50% off. The price of the stick depends on the kind of wood burned and how long it was dried. I bought the expensive stick since it was 50% off but the stone inks for fine painting was not on sale.

Next our group stopped at Todaiji where Nara Daibutsu, aka “The Great Buddha of Nara," is sitting ;

Outside the temple, you can see deers roaming around freely . Tourists can pet them.

The Nara deers are considered sacred messengers of the gods, by the Kasuga Taisha Shrine.
Deity Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto arrived in Nara riding a white deer, making deer as divine .

"The Great Buddha of Nara," is an image of the Buddha Birushana which suffered significant damage in 1692 but was properly reconstructed. There are huge figures of other deities but I didn’t get their names except for Binzuru who is placed outside the Temple , not worthy to be placed beside Buddha because of his many vices like cavorting with many women and drinking. But today he’s known for his healing power. The sign on his statue said:

“Binzuru (Pindola Bharadvaja) Wood, Edo period, 18th cent.

Pindola was one of the sixteen arahats, who were disciples of the buddha. Pindola is said have excelled in the mastery of occult powers. It is commonly believed in Japan that when person rubs a part of the image of Binzuru and then rubs the corresponding part of his own body his ailment there will disappear.”

The other optional tour was visiting the green tea plantation . You can only choose one tour not both on the same day. I chose ink making because in the ink lies infinite stories, poetry, and art.