SUIBOKUGA - INK PAINTING

Painting with India Ink (Sumi*) alone (sumie) was
introduced from China long time ago.

Sumie includes both outline drawings, called
Hakubyoga, and paintings using variations in the ink,
shading and blurring, called Suibokuga.

There are two methods used in Suibokuga.
In one the form is sketched in pale ink, then gone
over with darker ink.  In the other, the form is
drawn all at once, without any preliminary outline.

From the Kamakura period Suibokuga received
serious attention, and in the Muromachi period
the Zen monk Sesshu (1420-1506) developed a typically
Japanese style of Suibokuga, and the art entered its
golden age.

Suibokuga subjects include people, flowers and birds,
and landscapes. 
Above all, the Sansuiga (mountain and water) genre of
landscape produced a great number of masterpieces.


















*SUMI (India Ink)

Sumi was introduced from China in ancient times.
It is made by mixing soot with glue and a small amount of
fragrance to solidify it, then molded and dried.
Produced chiefly in Nara Prefecture.

Two main types of soot are used.
One, from burning the branches and roots of
pine trees, makes a very fine grade of Sumi
with a bluish cast when diluted.  The other,
from burning rapeseed, paulawnia or sesame oil,
gives a slightly brownish ink.  Sumi with a high glue
content has a certain sheen.