Ink. Ink was made from lampblack, soot susu 煤 produced by the incomplete combustion of aged pine wood (the product is called shōenboku 松煙墨), or plant oil (the product is called yuenboku 油煙墨) mixed with glue *nikawa 膠. Fragrance and other compounds were sometimes added to the mixture to form a paste that was dried in molds of various shapes and sizes--round, square, oblong, oval, cylindrical, or more unorthodox shapes, such as human figures, fish, musical instruments, fans, etc. Ink can be made in various "shades" such as grey, purple, blue and brown tones depending on the materials and production. The sticks may then be decorated with inscriptions, such as name of the ink and/or poems. The stick form of ink was then ground on stones *suzuri 硯 and mixed with water to form liquid ink.
It is thought that the earliest form of ink was made in China from charcoal, soot, or coal which was ground and added to glue or lacquer. Black pigments were used to decorate Neolithic pottery from the 3rd-2nd millennium BCE, and writing in vermilion "ink" remains on Shang-Yin oracle bones of the 13th century BCE. Black ink writing also appears on bamboo and wooden slats from around 400-200 BCE, but true ink, made from pine soot mixed with glue and formed into sticks, was produced in China during the 1st-2nd century CE. A Chinese inkstick in the shape of a boat, dated 716 in red on the back, is preserved in the *Shōsōin 正倉院, Nara.
In Japan, the earliest manufacture of ink is recorded in the 7th-century Nihon shoki 日本書紀. However, black and colored pigments remain on the wall paintings in tombs of the Kofun period, so it is likely that the use of ink in Japan predates these remains. The earliest regions to produce ink were Nara and Kyoto, but records suggest that Tanba 丹波 and Harima 播磨 (present-day Hyōgo Prefecture), and areas in Kyūshū 九州 were also significant producers of ink during the 8th-12th century. From the 12th-14th century, the Tanba, Kii 紀伊 (Wakayama Prefecture), Ōmi 近江 (Shiga Prefecture) and Awaji 淡路 Island (Hyōgo Prefecture) regions also gained fame for ink production. It is said that plant-oil soot was first used for ink production in the early 15th century by a monk at Kōfukuji 興福寺, Nara. During the Edo period, there was a renewed interest among scholars and artists in writing accoutrements for use as well as for collection. Old and rare inks were imported from China and catalogues of sumi were published. Ink production in the Nara, Kii and Owari 尾張 (Aichi Prefecture) regions. Ink production in Japan today, for the most part, uses soot from cheap, inorganic sources and depends more on science that on the technique of the artisan to create quality materials.