Posted on 04/06/2009 9:48:58 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
Craftspeople in the ancient city of Nara are struggling to boost the dwindling local industry for producing Japanese "sumi" black ink, which is commonly used for traditional "sumie" drawing and calligraphy.
Industry leaders say the art of making sumi ink, which dates back to the eighth century, faces a tough environment as fewer people use the ink and brushes for writing and shrinking demand affects the quality of a key component, "nikawa" glue.
A group of companies producing sumi ink in Nara Prefecture has a combined 80-plus percent share of the domestic market. Sumi ink is made from a mixture of nikawa glue and soot.
But shipments have sharply fallen to 2.5 million blocks of solidified ink, or about one-tenth of the peak level in 1935, while the number of producers has dropped to around 10 from 44 in 1935.
Boku-undo Co. is one of the sumi ink makers in the western Japanese city which are trying hard to improve the quality of nikawa glue, which is extracted from the skins and bones of animals.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
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Will probably be superseded by some synthetic product from 3M.
I did my part and bought two sumi art kits over the past two years.
Maybe their problem is that the glue is too good, and the bar of ‘ink’ lasts too long. Both of mine are hardly worn down..
I’m not sure how you go about ensuring your survival making this sort of product though. I suppose cutting costs is your only hope.
It is probably akin to trying to save the punch-card or typewriter industry. I’d hate to see this one go though, but I’m sure there will be demand in the future, and the people that continue to supply it will be the ones that survive. I wonder if they could expand the number of markets in which they engage in business.
I doubt you’d ever really see that happen, and I don’t believe you’ll ever see total demand drop-off, at least in Japan. Perhaps the promotion of Japanese influenced arts in other countries? That undertaking is probably outside of the scope of their business model though. I usually have good ideas for business plans to save failing industries, but I’m at a loss for this one.
If you’ve used it, you know that there is very little that could replace the ink itself. But that doesn’t deny the fact that it is a very niche market.
To survive they will have to ascend to the premium market level. If it is essentially more about the art, than that is all they can do. That means charging a lot more, which could hut demand a little or even put off new buyers. Perhaps they could persuade schools to add the writing style to the art classes (assuming Japan has art classes in their curriculum). That could help ensure a decent level of demand and perhaps sometime later some of those kids will take it up as an extra curricular active.
I wonder if any of the companies have tried to achieve exclusivity with some of the organizations that use their ink (schools, universities, artist guilds, etc..) I would fear that in doing so, they would be unable to fill the demand, but 2.5 million units is certainly nothing to just write off, and I suppose that wouldn’t be the case if they were able to handle an order of magnitude more production previously. (I suppose those would be my own personal fears..) As an industry though they need to do as you suggested. Though I’m not sure whittling down your already niche market to the people that want the premium inks is a good idea, unless they are able to maintain price levels. (persistence for perfection is what the Japanese are good at) The alternatives of expanding the demand for the inks will probably be their saving grace, if they can take hold of it.
I think they could pull it off, maybe, but unfortunately my posts here don’t help them at all.. They need to drive the demand. With only 10 manufacturers remaining, the market will be come more competitive, no matter how nonvolatile it is.
They’re saying the hard part is the glue, which is coming into demand for other uses.
Sounds like it is difficult to make this glue. This is where a good synthetic could help.
That would be the good thing of getting into school art classes. It would help drive potential customers later on. The article sighted that the glue is being used more and more for other industries. Thus reducing the amount and quality available for ink production. It could come to the point of having to start using a different glue.
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