# Suminagashi (墨流し)

> A technique in which concentric rings of ink dropped on the surface of water are disturbed by breath or brush and then lifted onto paper. The flow that appears on each sheet cannot be repeated, and from Heian period decorated papers to contemporary bookbinding it has continued as a method for inviting chance on purpose.

- IndexStyle No.506 — https://indexstyle.org/styles/suminagashi
- Kind: Technique · Family: Decorated Paper · Era: 12th century–
- Mood: Calm, Intimacy, Technology
- Color cues: #e9e6dd / #67635d / #171615 (cues taken from reference works, not a fixed palette)

## Defining characteristics

- Streamlines of disturbed concentric rings
- Layers made by the density of the ink
- A pattern different on every sheet
- Edges that keep the tension of the water surface

## Best used for

- Making a ground of which no two sheets are the same
- Making a surface that handles quiet and chance at once

## Composition recipe

- Typography & lettering: Place type clear of the flow and do not let it compete with the ground.
- Layout & structure: Fix the direction of the streamlines and run them diagonally to the edges of the sheet.
- Material & texture: Drop ink and surfactant alternately onto the water and disturb them with your breath.

## What to avoid

Trying to control it completely produces a dead pattern. Decide in advance how much room chance is given.

## Application checklist

Before calling a piece an application of this style, check it against the defining characteristics:

- [ ] Streamlines of disturbed concentric rings
- [ ] Layers made by the density of the ink
- [ ] A pattern different on every sheet
- [ ] Edges that keep the tension of the water surface
- [ ] At least one reference work below has been studied directly
- [ ] The caution above ("What to avoid") has been addressed

## Related styles

- **Paper Marbling (マーブリング)** — Color floated on liquid is lifted onto paper once and only once, producing an order that cannot be repeated. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/paper-marbling
- **Ebru (エブル)** — Turkish marbling: pigments floated on thickened water, drawn into flowers and swirls with comb and stylus, lifted onto paper. Grown from calligraphy's ground into an art of its own, inscribed by UNESCO. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/ebru

## Further study

- Decorated papers of the Heian period
- How the technique differs from Western marbling
- Its use in contemporary bookbinding

## Reference works

- 西本願寺本三十六人家集『貫之集』上巻 墨流し料紙 12世紀初頭 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:36poets%20collection%20Turayuki%201stVol.JPG
- 『新古今和歌集』墨流し料紙の書 13世紀 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ShinKokin%20Wakash%C5%AB%20su%20suminagashi%20XIII%20secolo.png
- 日本の色紙・墨流し（フランツ・バルチュ紙コレクション、ドイツ国立図書館） — Wikimedia Commons / CC0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Franz%20Bartsch%20Suminagashi%2012%2005316.tif

## Source of record

- Wikipedia — Suminagashi — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suminagashi

## Machine surfaces

- JSON: https://indexstyle.org/api/styles/suminagashi
- Image-generation prompt (legally clean): https://indexstyle.org/styles/suminagashi/prompt.txt
- MCP: https://indexstyle.org/mcp (tools: search_styles, get_style, compose_styles; prompts: image-prompt, apply-style)

## 日本語

水面に落とした墨が広がる同心円を、息や筆で乱してから紙へ写し取る技法。一枚ごとに現れる流れは再現できず、平安の料紙装飾から現代の装丁まで、偶然を意図的に招き入れる方法として続いている。

特徴: 同心円が乱れた流線／墨の濃淡による層／一枚ごとに異なる紋様／水面の張力が残る縁
注意: 完全に制御しようとすると死んだ模様になる。偶然を残す範囲を先に決める。