Sumi Lines Dancing Freely

The Chinese character “river” is written with three strokes; it cannot be written with five or seven...

The Lines that Form a Pair; a Firm Sense of Existence

“Eternal” and “Moment” A single line races through space filled with light. Both “Eternal” and “Mome...

Brushes, Sumi, Inkstone

To one side of a table covered with washi paper in the split-level studio of Shinoda’s apartment is ...

Fuji

Near Lake Yamanaka at the foot of Mt. Fuji, Toko Shinoda keeps a country cottage. Originally an old ...

Tanboku: Living in Sumi

Thinned sumi readily penetrates washi paper, and forms emerge with the mingling of water and sumi. T...

Gifu: Home of the Heart

When she is making sumi on her inkstone, Shinoda says, she recalls the limpid waters of a river in t...