Today, I am going to try to not make such a mess with the calligraphy brush. I have the correct paper, felt pad, weight, ink block and the wonderful carved ink stone. This beautifully crafted stone was presented to me by K's mother and father (おかあさん、おとおさん) and was inscribed to おとおさん in 1974 at Wakayama.

Interestingly, the ink-stone or suzuri (すずり) is a major part of good caligraphy. The stone is used to grind the ink stick in water to make a homogenous deep purple/black ink. Caring for the stone is very important and having a stone of such high quality as I now have is an honour indeed.

However, having the best tools (the brush, pad, weight and ink bought for me by K) does not guarantee anything. Hiragana caligraphy is not so cool (but it helps me practice) and I will eventually get a few beautiful kanji brushstrokes. But for the moment I am about as neat as the average kindergarten child, and seem to have the ability to cover myself and most other things in the immediate vicinity in black ink.... and all this without making any particular effort.