Ink Stick / Nara Sumi / Chokin (Golden Bird)

Product Description : Why is it so EXPENSIVE?

Product Story

General Product Information

This is a smaller sized sumi ink and is recommended for those who are using solid sumi ink for the first time. This high-quality ink is filled with the traditional skills of Nara's ink craftsmen.
It would be a very nice gift as a local specialty filled with Nara's history.

 Product History

When did these crafts start to craft?：1400 years ago / 600AD / Yamato period in Japan

Ink was transmitted to Japan about 1400 years ago. According to the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), it came from China in 610. Since Nara Prefecture was the capital of Japan at that time, there was a great demand for ink, which was used for sutra copying and writing documents. The location of Nara was ideal for the production of sumi ink, and this is one of the main reasons why sumi ink production has flourished in Nara to these days.

Craftsman Story

Craftsman Profile

Atsushi Nagano / Kinkoen
He is the seventh generation of Kinmokuen, a company that has been making Nara sumi ink in Nara Prefecture for over 100 years. He grew up watching his father and grandfather got blacken due to the ink all day long while making it, and he decided to take over the family business. He created new charms of sumi ink, such as aromatic sumi ink, which has an enjoyable aroma.

Craftsman Passion

"Bokushu (墨守)" = "to protect ink."
In order to preserve the tradition, it is more important to pass it on than to make it. We are making efforts to pass on Nara sumi ink to the younger generation and people around the world by giving classes on sumi ink at elementary schools and holding hands-on sumi ink making classes in order to keep the more than 1400 years old tradition alive. We will continue to challenge the new possibilities of sumi ink.

Achievement

Received award for Good Design

 

Your Contribution to Craftsman

Customer Voice

Due to the market structure (link for full articles are attached bottom), craftsman have not known who the customer is and how customer reacts to their work. We made a “Message to Craftsman” box at purchase page. We will deliver all message to every craftsman. Our review will be also shared to craftsman so please leave your comment and evaluation on review section!

Income for Craftsman: Craftsman get only less than 10% of selling price?

As written above, craftsmen have not controlled the last phase of the sales channel resulting in the selling price is set by third-party without craftsman’s recognition. There are some cases that only less than 10% of selling price is given to craftsman. We promise with our customer / craftsman that we offer the fair trade with craftsmen in our contract!

We made an article about the above problem and our challenge. Please have a read from below link.
Current state of the Crafts Market / Benefits brought by Suigenkyo

Measurement

Width：1.9cm
Thickness：0.8cm
Height：7.8cm
Weight：15g

 

Material & Caution

Materials

Soot
Glue
Aroma

 Caution

Individual Difference

Each piece is handmade, so there are individual differences even in the same series. We hope that you will understand the change by handmade.

Delivery Date

We may have to cancel your order if we do not have the product in stock.
Please understand this before your purchase.

Manufacturing Process

We have not uploaded this craftsman’s video yet, please discover another craftsman’s video from the link below.

YouTube