safflower ink 1 type sutra black to brown rapeseed oil Oil soot ink Five-star [Kobaien Kanji/kana/transcribed smoke]

Comes in a paulownia wood box. This is a premium ink made from Kobaien's own specially harvested soot, boasting the widest range of uses and considered synonymous with ink. It is graded from 1 to 5 stars, with five stars being the highest grade. In 1739, during the fourth year of the Genbun era, Matsui Motoyasu, the sixth head of the Kobaien school of ink making, obtained official permission to travel to Nagasaki, where he interacted with ink makers in China and perfected ink-making techniques to create one of his finest inks. It is also well known by the nickname "Ohana-sumi," and was popularized by the Edo scholar Hiraga Gennai as "Ohanazumi." In 1739, Gennai Matsui an sixth generation of Kobaien interacted with people from China in Nagasaki. They evolved the sumi into the higher level. It is called Ohanazumi and famous for being by Gennai Hiraga, an Edo period pharmacologist.