招福墨 (Shoufukuboku) — 招 (shou, to call) 福 (fuku, good fortune) 墨 (boku, ink) — is Kobaien's commemorative inkstick honouring the Dragon of the Chinese zodiac, carved with the animal said to preside over those born in 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, and 2024.
In East Asia, the twelve zodiac animals are believed to shape not just birth years but character and fortune, and the Dragon carries a reputation all its own: outspoken, energetic, generous, sharp-minded, and driven by an exacting, sometimes impatient pursuit of perfection.
Objects bearing the zodiac animal have long been exchanged as tokens of luck, and this inkstick continues that custom in solid, workable form — as much a small charm as it is ink waiting to be ground.
Rather than a passing novelty, it belongs to Kobaien's ongoing tradition of zodiac inksticks, reissued as the twelve-year cycle turns, so a stick made for a Dragon year carries the same craft and character as any other Kobaien ink, ready equally for calligraphy or for a quiet place on a collector's shelf.
Give it to someone born under the Dragon, or simply to mark a Dragon year of your own.
SIZE: mm:millimeters, W:Width, L:Length, T:Thickness, Wgt:Weight
SIZE: 4.5 (W:42mm L:102mm T:12mm WGT:91grams)
