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Kaimei Bokuju
In Japan, Bokuju (Sumi Ink) is commonly used in calligraphy classes and schools.
How did it come to exist?
Kaimei Bokuju is a traditional business that was established in 1898.
Bokuju was invented by its company founder.
Our company founder Seiji Taguchi used to be school teacher.
He taught at a cold mountain village where grinding solid Sumi into liquid ink was a
harsh task for children in winter.
With the idea of creating a ready-to-use liquid Sumi ink, he went to Tokyo,
studied applied science and invented the “Bokuju”.
Sumi’s primarily ingredient is candle soot
In the past, pottery was held over a candle to collect soot, which was then hardened into blocks.
The blocks were then grinded in water to make ink.
The practice of calligraphy involved a lot of underlying handwork.
In such times, Bokuju brought about a revolution.
Now you didn’t need to grind your own Sumi ink. Calligraphy was now easy to get into.
Today, the popular line of black Bokuju is still retains its quality,
and is produced using the same method as 100 years ago.
Preservation of tradition is important but that alone isn’t enough for its survival.
Bokuju was been evolving.
For us, the original Kaimei Bokuju product is the backbone of our business.
It’s been around since the establishment of our company, so we must keep it up.
However, we have since developed, gold, silver, red and white colored Bokuju to meet the growing needs.
I believe this evolution in itself is tradition, and is what preserves tradition with innovation.
From Manga to Cloths, they have developed the potential of Bokuju for all uses.
They always give their best effort for the sake of their customers.
The equation behind Kaimei Bokuju was to attain Perpetuity through tradition and innovation.
Tradition x Innovation = Perpetuity
Doing the same thing over and over doesn’t necessarily make it a tradition.
Unless you challenge new things, you will not build up any culture,
hence it will not become a tradition.
In that sense, it’s important to learn things from the past,
but even more important is applying that knowledge to create something that
fits the current day and age.