A painting technique in which pale black ink *sumi 墨 or a color (including gold or silver) is brushed onto an area of a painting, and then, either darker sumi or the same or a contrasting color is dropped into the first before it has completely dried, creating an effect of pooled colors with softly blurred edges.
Although the technique probably originated in Chinese ink painting as early as the mid-8th century (see *hatsuboku 溌墨 technique), the first Japanese painter to consistently use it was Tawaraya Sōtatsu 俵屋宗達 (?-1640?). Two decorative Sōtatsu examples are his ink paintings Ushi-zu 牛図 (Oxen) at Chōmyōji 頂妙寺 and the colored screens of Fūjin Raijin-zu 風神雷神図 (Gods of Wind and Thunder) at Kenninji 建仁寺, both in Kyoto. Ogata Kōrin 尾形光琳 (1658-1716) brilliantly employed the technique in Kōhakubai-zu 紅白梅図 (The Red and White Plum Screens, ca. 1714/5), Museum of Art MOA in Shizuoka Prefecture, by adding green pigment *rokushō 緑青 to the black of the tree trunks to create an effect of patches of moss. The tarashikomi technique continued to be used by Sōtatsu's followers, and by *Rinpa 琳派 members in 18th-19th century.