Toukaen Paulownia oil inkstick ( Red-Purplish black 桐華煙 )

This is a very rare inkstick made from paulownia oil. The color is beautiful and the ink has a very good spread. 

If you make the ink a darker, you will get a deep, elegant black. If you make the ink lighter, you will get a reddish-purple black.

This inkstick is a masterpiece that incorporates the latest technology in Kobaien inkstick making, and was completed in 2023. It was finally released in late October, 2024.

Size: W:29.5mm L:113mm T:12.6. mm Wgt:46gram ( 94 gram including the box ) 

**This inkstick is a limited edition product, and the quantity is limited. There may be cases where Kobaien does not have any stock of this inkstick after you have placed your order, in which case we will cancel your order in its entirety. Please accept our apologies.

To begin with, paulownia oil is very different from other oils in that it dries quickly. 

It is used for surface coating of woodwork products. For this reason, it is often sold mixed with other oils or chemicals. Sometimes it is highly flammable and can be dangerous. It is very difficult to obtain the 100% pure paulownia oil needed by Kobaien.

It was relatively easy to obtain until around the end of the 1990s. In the first place, there is little use for 100% pure paulownia oil in the modern age.

Paulownia oil dries quickly and is difficult to ignite. Because of this property, it has long been used in Japan as a material for furniture. When you put paulownia oil in a container, the surface dries quickly and forms a film, making it impossible to ignite.

So you have to reduce the flame and burn it very slowly and carefully. This is a very laborious process, and it takes more than four times as long and requires more people than the process of collecting soot by burning oil in the production of regular inksticks.

Photo by Marios Forsos

Kobaien Sumi inksticks making process

However, the soot collected in this way by burning paulownia oil with great care becomes very fine.

Also, even after mixing it with glue or water to make an ink dough, it is difficult to handle.

This is because the ink dough made with paulownia oil dry out and harden quickly, so it is not possible to immediately put them into the usual inkstick molds.

Likewise, they need to be kneaded more than normal ink dough, and if they are not kneaded constantly, they will harden quickly. For this reason, it is very difficult to put paulownia oil ink dough into inkstick molds, and this is why they have such special molds.