Inkstick

The rod ink (Chinese墨, Pinyin mò, Japanese墨, sumi, kor. 먹, meok ) is one of the main materials of the Far Eastern calligraphy and painting.

It belongs to the paper, the writing brush and ink stone to the four treasures of the scholar's room.

Rod ink is made from lampblack and binder and processed into ink sticks that have to be rubbed with water on an ink stone, until the desired consistency of the ink is reached. There are also cheaper, bottled Ready inks, but these are mainly used for training purposes. Ink sticks are regarded as high quality, and the chemical inks are more prone to fading, making them less suitable for scroll paintings.

Use in Japanese calligraphy

The right rubbing the ink to learn is an important part of the study of Japanese calligraphy. Traditionally, only black ink is used, but modern artists sometimes put an even color. Kalligrafielehrer also use light orange ink with which they write practice characters for students and correct their work.