墨 sumi made from pine-soot

Made from the soot generated by burning pine branches or bark. Dark sumi ink exhibits a subdued matte color, while light sumi ink features a transparent and luminous shadeproviding a fine-grained three-dimensional effect. It is said that as it ages, the color shifts from black tones to blue tones.

Mr. Horiike is the only pine-soot artisan in Japan who makes pine-soot, the raw material for sumi ink now.