Japanese Tattoo Ink – Wash painting developed in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Wang Wei is generally credited as the painter who applied color to existing ink and wash paintings.[1] The art was further developed into a more polished style during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). It was introduced to Korea shortly after China’s discovery of the ink. Then, the Korean missionaries in Japan, in helping the Japanese establish a civilized settlement introduced it to Japan in the mid-14th century. In wash paintings, as in calligraphy, artists usually grind their own ink stick (Japanese: sumi) over an ink stone to obtain ink, but prepared inks are also available. Most ink sticks are made of either pine soot or oil soot combined with animal glue (Japanese: nikawa). An artist puts a few drops of water on an ink stone and grinds the ink stick in a circular motion until a smooth, black ink of the desired concentration is made. Prepared inks are usually of much lower quality. Sumi themselves are sometimes ornately decorated with landscapes or flowers in bas-relief and some are highlighted with gold.