Heiraden Haien Kyou ( 平螺鈿背圓鏡 )

A wonderful ink stick made from the smoke of the finest canola oil with ultra-fine particles.

In Japan, there is a building called Shosoin, which was built in the first half of the Nara period (about 700 CE ) to preserve national treasures.

This inkstick was made by imitating an ancient mirror,  Heiraden Haien Kyou ( 平螺鈿背圓鏡 ), housed in this Shosoin.

The photographs of the original mirror preserved in the Shosoin

The back of this large bronze mirror is decorated with mother-of-pearl inlay (a decorative technique in which shell fragments are used to create patterns).

The mirror is decorated with a floral design in Yakougai shelli and amber, and the other parts are decorated with finely crushed turquoise.

There are nine such mirrors with mother-of-pearl inlay in Shosoin, and this mirror is one of the largest and best-designed among them. This mirror is presumed to have been made in Tang ( Ancient Chinese Kingdom ).

It is one of the finest mirrors in history, made of rare materials from various regions of ancient China and finished with the utmost sophistication.

Research article on this mirror (Japanese)

The surface of this sumi inkstick is processed with Kobaien's special technique so that it shines like a mirror.

Width: 80 mm Length: 80 mm Thickness: 12 mm Weight:81 grams ( inkstick only ), 148 grams ( inclucing paulownia wood box )

平 ( Hira: Flat ) 

螺鈿 ( Raden: Mother-of-pearl inlay )

背 ( Hai: Back ) 

圓 ( En: Circle, Round ) 

鏡 ( Kyou: Mirror )