This ink stick is made very somber, and in order to add some lightness, animal glue is considered and mixed with pine burnt soot and kneaded well. Thus, the product has a graceful and unique hue of sumi with a tinge of white light. The drying time for this ink stick is as long as that of the traditional Ink Sticks of Hyakusenboku, but this ink stick shows separation of the shin (the core, the stroke by the brush) and the nijimi (the blurring part around the shin) quicker, about one or two years after it is produced. About five years after production, the harmony between the shin and the nijimi , brightness of the color of the sumi, thickness, and the graceful beauty will become clear. It has only one weak point of being luscious whereas we are aiming to get rid of this lusciousness shortly. This is a seiboku (blue ink stick) which lacks redness a little, but it gains redness as it gets older. It can be used with any shade of black, thick, middle, or thin black, for Kanji (Chinese characters), Kana (Japanese syllabary characters), Shosuji (two or several characters), and modern poems. Manufactured in 1962.