Traditional Ink That Costs Over $1,000 a Stick and Is Kneaded With Bare Hands Inside a 450-Year-Old Shop: PHOTOS

Craftsmen at an almost 450-year-old Japanese ink shop are using their bare hands to knead dough, made from fine soot and animal glue, into high-quality, 200-gram calligraphy ink bars that retail for over $1,000 a bar. Kobaien in Nara, Japan, was established in 1577 and makes sumi ink to this day through “earthenware smoke collection,” a traditional method, influenced by Chinese ink craftsmen, that has remained unchanged for over four centuries. Kobaien believes that by “valuing the traditional method and sticking to the old-fashioned way of production,” they can continue to produce the highest quality ink. The Kobaien ink has long been used by Japanese emperors, shoguns, and aristocrats and is used by modern patrons for calligraphy, minimalist ink wash painting, lacquering, and a cloth-dyeing method known as “sumizome”....