Every self-respecting Confucian gentlemen had Four Friends, four constant companions to his life. These things, brush, ink stick, ink stone and paper, provided him with enjoyment as well as the constancy and loyalty you would expect of a friend. Let us now take a look at the ink and the stones that it was ground on.

Traditionally ink came in sticks, very small ones long ago. Pine wood was burnt and the soot collected. This was then mixed with pine resin, formed into rectangular sticks and dried. As it was a precious substance, it was decorated with special, auspicious Chinese characters which were engraved on the stick. Sometimes the characters were painted another color, or gold and silver was applied. Nowadays, when everything has to be in such huge quantities due to the enormous population of the world, carbon is used and it is mixed with different substances to produce rather larger sticks which are decorated in the same fashion and even, sometimes, perfumed.

Now the aforementioned gentleman had a problem if he was in a hurry to relieve his boredom. In order to have the ink to paint the picture, he had to spend a number of hours rubbing the ink stick on the fine surface of the ink stone with a little water to create the right consistency of ink for his amusement. It is just possible that his ink stone was of superior quality and had a tightly fitting cover. If so, then the ink of the last time had not dried up but if not, he had to make new ink. He had to rub the ink stick in rhythmic, circle motions on his fine ink stone, adding a drop of water every now and again until he had the ink he needed. (Machines are used today, of course.)

Usually ink stones are made of a black stone which is relatively soft to carve. Elaborately decorated on the top, they vary enormously from the smallest which can be about the size of a finger, to the biggest, about the size of a roof tile. The usual design is one in which there is an elevated area and a slope with a smaller area in which the ink can collect as you grind away. The edges are raised and the grain of the stone is very fine. Additional, non-essential tools accompanied the gentleman. A water dropper, a ceramic or porcelain closed jug which had a small hole so that the quantity of water can be regulated. (These water droppers are now collectors' items because they come in many different sizes and shapes and are often made of fine ceramic, beautifully gazed and decorated.) A useful tool is a very interesting holder made of bamboo with small, two-ended, bamboo buttons to lock the ink stick into place. The hands remain clean and even a very used, thus short, ink stick can be ground to the end. There is one more "appliance" in the ensemble: an ink pot. This is a lovely round or oval ceramic object, often exquisitely painted, with a top and bottom of the same size. Ink can be kept from drying out in it. Back to the ink stones...

Ink stones are made in various shapes and with various designs. Usually rectangular, some stones are round, oval, square, hexagonal or octagonal and occasionally they come in no particular shape or in the form of the design which has been carved on the back. The expensive variety are actually carved, the cheaper ones are made from the powder of the stone, reconstituted with a binding substance and pressed into a mold. The carvings on the lid of the ink stone are, of course, highly symbolic. Most popular are the classic ten symbols of longevity; one or more are combined to form the decoration. These are: the sun, clouds, water, rocks, tortoises, cranes, deer, pines, bamboo and pullch'o, the fungus of immortality. Other favorites come from the group known as the "four gentlemen" (noble symbols): bamboo, pine, chrysanthemums and orchids. Sometimes there is a dragon, a crane, a turtle, a phoenix, grapes, plum blossom, an elixir bottle, a persimmon, a fish, or Chinese characters. As far as the shops seen these days, tortoises seem to be the front runners in popularity for decorating an inkstone.

And so the Confucian gentleman passed his days grinding his ink stick on his ink stone, smoothing out the paper to cover with lovely strokes from his brush -- and he didn't die of stress-related diseases.