There is a point, a few months into shodō, when the bottle of liquid ink on your desk starts to feel like a shortcut. You have learned to hold the brush. Your strokes have started to look like strokes. And you begin to notice that the black on your paper is always the same black, poured from the same bottle, with no part of you in it.
This is the moment to buy an ink stick.
Grinding ink (墨をする, sumi o suru) is not a chore that came before bottled ink was invented. It is the first ten minutes of every serious practice session in Japan, and it has been for a thousand years: water on the stone, the stick moving in slow circles, the smell of pine and glue, the ink darkening while your mind settles. Students who start grinding their own ink almost never go back to the bottle for anything except quick drills. The black is deeper. It dries matte instead of glossy. It thins to grey washes and thickens to a bead. And it is yours.
This guide is for the moment you decide to try it. It covers the four sticks I would actually buy, from a nine-dollar starter to the ink made by the oldest ink house in Japan, and the two other things you need to grind them.
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Table of contents
Open Table of contents
The short answer
If you want to start grinding ink this week and spend under $40 in total:
- Ink stick: Yasutomo Sumi Ink Stick, Artist Quality · about $9
- Inkstone: Kuretake Seiran natural inkstone · about $17
- Water dropper: Easyou porcelain water dropper · about $13
Order the three together and you have everything. The rest of this guide explains why these, and what to buy when you want more.
What an ink stick actually is
An ink stick is soot and animal glue, kneaded together, pressed into a mould, and dried slowly for months. That is the whole recipe, and it has not changed since the Tang dynasty. Everything that separates a $9 stick from a $90 one is in the details: which soot, how fine, how much glue, how long it was aged.
Two kinds of soot matter for a beginner.
Oil soot (油煙, yuen) is burned from vegetable oil. The particles are fine and round, the ink grinds smoothly, and the black has warmth and a soft sheen. This is the everyday ink of Japanese calligraphy, and it is the kind to buy first.
Pine soot (松煙, shōen) is burned from pine wood. The particles are larger and irregular, and the ink is a bluish, matte black that looks like it was written a century ago. Beautiful for a certain kind of work; harder to grind evenly; a second stick, not a first.
Size is measured in chō (丁), an old unit of roughly 15 grams. A 2-chō stick is a small student stick. A 5-chō stick is a serious one that will last a year.
What “best for beginners” means here
Four criteria, in order.
- Grinds without fighting you. A well-made stick turns to ink in five minutes of steady circles. A badly made one skids, crumbles at the edges, or leaves grit in the pool. Every stick below grinds cleanly.
- Oil soot, from a maker who names itself. Anonymous “Chinese ink stick, 10 pack” listings are the ink-stick version of the $4 plastic brush: mostly glue, mostly frustration.
- A size you will finish. A beginner should buy a small stick first, learn the motion, and graduate to a 5-chō once grinding is a habit.
- Honest about origin. Some of the best oil-soot ink in the world is made in Anhui, China, and some of the best is made in Nara, Japan. Both appear below, labelled as what they are.
The honest shortlist
Four sticks. One to start, one for value, one to grow into, one to dream about.
1. Yasutomo Sumi Ink Stick, Artist Quality — the first stick
Yasutomo Sumi Ink Stick, Artist Quality on Amazon · about $9
Yasutomo has been the bridge between Japanese calligraphy supplies and American art shops for decades, and this is the stick they have sold to first-year students for most of that time: a small oil-soot stick with the traditional gold-dot mark on top, sized for a student inkstone, priced so that ruining it while you learn costs nothing.
What it does well: Grinds smoothly and quickly, which is exactly what a first stick must do. Produces a clean, warm black that matches the Yasutomo bottled ink you probably started with, so nothing else about your practice changes. Small enough to finish in a few months, which teaches you more about ink than a decade of half-used sticks.
What it doesn’t: It is a student ink, and it writes like one: good black, little depth in the greys. Stock on Amazon comes and goes. If it is unavailable, the next pick is the same idea from a different mill.
Honest verdict: The right first stick for almost everyone. Buy it with a stone and a dropper, grind it tonight, and find out in ten minutes whether this is a practice you want.
2. Handmade oil-soot ink stick (Jbh, Anhui) — best value, always in stock
Handmade oil-soot ink stick, 31 g, on Amazon · about $9
This stick comes from one of the old ink mills of Anhui province, the region that has made China’s finest ink since the Song dynasty, and it is made the traditional way: oil soot, glue, hand-pressed, air-dried. It is the stick I recommend to overseas students when the Yasutomo is out of stock, and several of them have never switched back.
What it does well: A finer, slightly deeper black than the Yasutomo at the same price, with a faint pleasant fragrance while grinding. Consistent from stick to stick. Reliably available on Amazon US, which matters more than it should.
What it doesn’t: It is a Chinese stick made for Chinese calligraphy, so it is a touch harder than Japanese practice ink and takes a minute longer to grind. The paper box is plain; this is not a gift.
Honest verdict: If you want the best black per dollar and no stock anxiety, buy this. If you want your first stick to say “Japan” on it, buy the Yasutomo.
3. Kobaien Daiho, 5-chō — the stick to grow into
Kobaien Daiho 5.0-chō on Amazon · about $39
Kobaien (古梅園) was founded in Nara in 1577 and is the oldest ink maker in Japan. Every serious Japanese calligrapher owns Kobaien ink; many own nothing else. Daiho is their standard oil-soot stick, the one used in classrooms and studios across the country, and the 5-chō size is roughly 75 grams: a year of regular practice from a single stick.
What it does well: This is what ground ink is supposed to be. The black is deep and warm with a quiet lustre, the greys are alive when you thin it, and the stick grinds like butter after the first few sessions break in its surface. Kept dry, it gets better with age. It is also, at under $40 for a year of ink, the best value on this page by a wide margin once you are past the trial stage.
What it doesn’t: It is a large stick, and a beginner still learning the grinding motion will waste some of it. Amazon US stock is thin and irregular; when it is listed, it is usually one or two units. If you see it, buy it.
Honest verdict: Buy this the moment you know you will keep grinding. It is the ink your practice will be measured against.
4. Kobaien Tenchochiku, 5-chō — the gift for someone serious
Kobaien Tenchochiku 5.0-chō on Amazon · about $93
Tenchochiku (天長地久, “as long as heaven and earth endure”) is a grade above Daiho: finer soot, more careful ageing, a black with more depth in the mid-tones. It is not a beginner’s stick, and you will not see the difference from Daiho until your eye and hand have had a year with the brush.
What it does well: Everything Daiho does, with more range. As a gift for a practitioner who already grinds ink, there is almost nothing better under $100.
What it doesn’t: Cost. For a beginner, the extra $54 buys nothing they can yet use.
Honest verdict: Not for your first year. For the second, or for the calligrapher in your life, it is the present they will not buy themselves.
The two things you need with it
An ink stick is useless without a stone, and awkward without a dropper. Neither is expensive.
Inkstone: Kuretake Seiran natural stone
Kuretake Seiran natural inkstone on Amazon · about $17
A real natural stone, not ceramic or resin, at a student price, from one of Japan’s oldest calligraphy makers. The grinding surface has the fine tooth that turns a stick to ink in minutes, and the pool is deep enough for a session’s worth. It comes in a blue gift box. If you own a plastic dish from a starter set, this is the upgrade that makes the stick work. (For a full comparison of stones, see Best Inkstone (Suzuri) for Beginners.)
Water dropper: Easyou porcelain suiteki
Easyou porcelain water dropper on Amazon · about $13
A suiteki (水滴) is a small lidded pot with a spout that lets out a few drops at a time. You can grind ink with water from a spoon; you will grind it better, and enjoy it more, with a dropper, because the amount of water decides the ink and a spoon gives you no control. This porcelain one is plain, correct, and pleasant to hold.
Three ways to buy
- Trial (about $39): Yasutomo stick + Kuretake Seiran stone + Easyou dropper. Everything you need to find out whether grinding is for you.
- Committed (about $70): Kobaien Daiho + Kuretake Seiran + Easyou dropper. A year of the best everyday ink in Japan.
- Gift (about $110): Kobaien Tenchochiku + Kuretake Seiran. For the person who already has a brush, a mat and a bottle, and is ready for the real thing. See also our gift guide under $50 for the rest of the desk.
If you are buying for the holidays, note that Japanese-made sticks often ship from Japan and can take one to three weeks to arrive. Order by the end of November.
What to skip
- Bulk “10 ink sticks for $12” listings. Mostly glue. They crumble, grind grey, and put beginners off ink sticks for life.
- Coloured ink sticks, for now. Kuretake’s Saiboku Shimbi colours are lovely and a real product, but they are for painting, not for learning the black.
- Decorative gift sticks with gold dragons. Some are excellent ink; most are ornaments. Without a maker’s name and a soot type on the listing, assume ornament.
- Grinding on a plastic dish. It will not work, and you will conclude the stick is bad. Buy the stone.
How to grind it (the short version)
The full method, with photographs, is in How to Grind Sumi Ink on an Inkstone. The short version:
- Drop a coin-sized pool of water on the flat of the stone.
- Hold the stick upright, and grind in slow, even circles with light pressure. Do not press hard; pressure makes grit, patience makes ink.
- When the water has turned to ink, push it into the well, add another few drops, and repeat until you have enough.
- Test on a scrap of hanshi: a full stroke should be black, a fast stroke should show dry-brush texture.
- Afterwards, wipe the stick dry and stand it on its end. Never leave it standing in water; the glue softens and the stick splits.
Five to ten minutes. Most students find it the calmest part of the day.
Where to go next
- If you are still on bottled ink — Best Sumi Ink for Beginners covers the bottles; What Is Sumi Ink? explains the difference in depth.
- The stone in detail — Best Inkstone (Suzuri) for Beginners.
- The rest of the desk — Best Japanese Calligraphy Set for Beginners and Best Calligraphy Felt Mat and Paperweight.
- If you want to paint with it — ground ink is at its best in the greys of ink painting; see Best Sumi-e Starter Kit for Beginners.
- A character worth the fresh ink — 永, the character of the eight principles, or 心 (heart).
Nine dollars, a stone, and ten quiet minutes. That is the whole price of admission to the part of shodō that the bottle cannot give you. Buy the small stick tonight; buy the Kobaien when you know.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an ink stick and bottled sumi ink?
Bottled ink (bokujū) is ready to pour and is what beginners should start with. An ink stick (sumi) is solid soot and glue that you grind on an inkstone with a little water for five to ten minutes before writing. Ground ink has a deeper, more varied black, dries matte, and the grinding itself is the traditional start of a practice session.
Oil soot or pine soot: which ink stick should a beginner buy?
Oil soot (yuen-boku). It grinds easily, gives a warm, glossy black, and is what most Japanese practice ink is made from. Pine soot (shōen-boku) is bluish and matte, and is a second stick to buy once you know you like grinding.
How long does an ink stick last?
A small stick of around 30 grams lasts a beginner three to six months of regular practice. A 5-chō stick such as the Kobaien Daiho (about 75 grams) lasts a year or more. Ink sticks do not expire; kept dry, they improve with age.
Do I need a real inkstone to use an ink stick?
Yes. A stick has to be ground on a stone with a fine grinding surface; a plastic dish will not work. An entry-level natural stone such as the Kuretake Seiran costs under $20 and is enough for years of practice.
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