Yatate

Yatate (Japanese矢 立, literally quiver ) is a Japanese Reiseschreibset, which was primarily in use since the Middle Ages. It resembles at first glance, a whistle and consists of a case with a brush and a small container for ink (墨 壷, sumi tsubo ) in which silk or cotton is to receive the ink.

Overview

Writing in the Middle Ages required time-consuming preparations. Rod ink was rubbed by the addition of water to a rubbing stone. The ink thus generated ( sumi ) could then be applied by brush and used. As Japanese warrior writing utensils were wont often be kept in the quiver, probably the name of the original storage location was borrowed as a designation for the Reiseschreibset. These first yatate were named because they were not whistle -shaped, but worked with a straight shape like a fan " hiogi " (桧 扇).

In the Kamakura period began to use cotton and silk in the ink tanks. Firstly, the liquid ink could be transported easily in this way, on the other hand, the brush was reasonable moisten with ink and ink blobs dripping brush could be avoided.

In the Edo period, one also used red copper ( Shakudo ), an alloy of copper and gold, for the production of yatate who received so over time a natural patina.