601-DKS-FZ-04 Japanese calligraphy ink brush traditional craftsman "Fuku-zui" made "Toyohashi-Fude" (Toyohashi ink brush), Weasel Mixed-Hair Kana Calligraphy Brush JAC-THF-601-04

The tip gathers easily and offers excellent control, making it suitable for a wide variety of scripts and artistic works.
This well-balanced brush is suitable for a wide range of scripts, from kaisho (standard script) to gyōsho and sōsho (semi-cursive and cursive).
Easy to handle for both beginners and advanced users, it allows for beautiful expression of tome (stops), hane (hooks), and harai (sweeps), and can be used across various calligraphic styles.
It glides smoothly across the paper, offering excellent responsiveness and making it easy to create dynamic variations and expressive strokes.
The brush has an approximate bristle length of 38 mm, a diameter of 7 mm, and an overall length (including the tip) of approximately 260mm.

What is a “Kengō” brush?
A kengō brush is a calligraphy brush made by combining firm hairs (stiff hair) and soft hairs, allowing it to balance the strengths of both. This structure provides an ideal combination of moderate resilience (spring) and excellent ink retention.
With its well-balanced elasticity and ink-holding capacity—neither too stiff nor too soft—a kengō brush is highly versatile and suitable for a wide range of scripts, including kaisho (standard script), gyōsho (semi-cursive), and sōsho (cursive), making it ideal for beginners through advanced users alike.
Typically, resilient hairs such as weasel, horse, or raccoon are used for the core, while softer hairs such as sheep (goat) are applied to the outer layer, achieving an excellent balance of control and smooth writing performance.

1952 Born in Atsumi City (now Tahara City), Aichi Prefecture
1967 Apprenticed to Mr. Suzuki, a Toyohashi brush craftsman
1996 Certified as a traditional craftsman
1999 Awarded the Aichi Prefecture Governor's Commendation for Excellence in Traditional Craft Industries
2005 Awarded the Distinguished Service Award in the Traditional Crafts Industry, presented by the Governor of Aichi Prefecture
2009 Awarded the Outstanding Craftsman Award in the Traditional Crafts Industry, presented by the Director-General of the Chubu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry
2011 Awarded the Distinguished Worker Award in the Traditional Crafts Industry, presented by the Director-General of the Chubu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry
2012 Chairman, Toyohashi Brush Traditional Craftsmen's Association
2014 Awarded Chairman's Award, Japan Traditional Craftsmen's Association, Japan Traditional Crafts Chairman's Award
2016 Awarded Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Commendation, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Excellent Craftsman Award
2019 Awarded Autumn conferment of the Order of Sacred Treasure Single Light

"Toyohashi Fude" is a brush manufactured in Toyohashi City and surrounding areas in Aichi Prefecture.
It is used by many calligraphers as a high-quality brush for calligraphy.
In addition to calligraphy, the Toyohashi Fude is also used for Japanese painting, cosmetics, and crafts. The Toyohashi Fude is characterized by its smooth writing feel that easily blends with ink, which is created by the "nerimaze" technique of the brush craftsman's hand.

The tip of the Toyohashi Fude is made from the hair of animals such as raccoon dogs, weasels and horses.
It is made by combining the materials used for the core of the ear and the materials around the core, taking into consideration the differences in hardness and elasticity of the animal hair material, according to the intended use.
The Toyohashi Fude easily blends with sumi ink created by mixing (kneading) selected materials with water.

The following materials are mainly used for the tip of the Toyohashi Fude.
■"Sanyou-mou" goat hair, "Owaki-ge" horse tail hair (*the hair that grows at the base of a horse's tail), "Amao" (*horse mane), weasel hair, raccoon dog hair (white raccoon dog, black raccoon dog), etc.
**The "Owaki-ge" horse tail hair (*the hair that grows at the base of a horse's tail) is subdivided into white amao "Shiro-Amao", black amao "Kuro-Amao", white and red amao "Shiroaka-Amao", red sesame amao "Akagoma-amao", white sesame amao "Shirogoma-amao", black sesame amao "Kurogoma-amao", and others. The "Naichi-no-Aka-amao" is considered to be of the highest quality.

In some cases, a combination of several materials is used to take advantage of their respective characteristics.
●"Kolinsky brush"
Brushes made of weasel hair are also called "Kolinsky brushes," but since weasel hair alone lacks strength, Toyohashi Fude's Kolinsky brush is made by mixing weasel hair with "Nachi-no-Akaamao", the highest quality horse hair, to produce brushes that are strong and have good ink filling.
●"Kolinsky-Jyomou-Jyokengou brush"
The core is made of "Sanyou-mou" goat hair and "Naichi-no-Akaamao", and the top hair is wrapped with Kolinsky hair.
●"Jyokengou brush"
The core is made of "Sanyou-mou" goat hair and "Owakige-Akaamao" tail hair of a domestic horse, and the top hair is also wrapped with Sanyou-mou.

It depends on the preference of the person using the brush, but the most important question to ask yourself is "What do I require of a brush?".
It is important to choose a brush that suits your purpose, such as strength (firmness, power, etc.), good ink penetration, or both, or to choose one for fine writing such as sutra copying, for writing on calligraphy paper, or writing for a hanging scroll.

Make sure to select a brush that suits your purpose with the right material, thickness, length, firmness and softness, etc.

●The following are precautions for using your brush for a long time.
・Do not soak the brush in a pool of water.
*The ear of a brush is finished by binding the base of the ear with thread and burning it with a burning iron, and then gluing the ear to the shaft.
Therefore soaking the brush in water may cause the threads to come off or the adhesion to loosen, which may cause the bristles to fall out.
・If the brush is not washed thoroughly, the tip of the brush will crack and not hold together if it is hardened with ink.

●How to care for your brush
・After use, wash the brush before the end of the day.
・When washing, do not wash the brush in a bowl of water, but carefully and gently massage the base of the brush under running tap water to rinse off all the ink contained in the brush.
　After washing, adjust the tip of the brush with your fingers, drain off the water lightly, and hang it on a string with the tip of the brush facing down to dry in the shade.
*After washing, do not lay the brush on its side while it is still wet or stand it on its side with the tip of the brush up, as this will cause the brush shaft to expand and deform the brush.

Handmade Suzuka Sumi ink "Shinseido"

• Japanese calligraphy ink brush traditional craftsman "Fuku-zui" made "Toyohashi-Fude" (Toyohashi ink brush), Weasel Mixed-Hair Kana Calligraphy Brush
  Product No.：JAC-THF-601-04
  Size：Total length 260 ㎜ × brush tip 38 ㎜ × Shaft Diameter 7.0 ㎜
  Weight：7 g


• 1,000 JPY flat rate shipping within Japan, free shipping for purchases totaling 20,000 JPY or more.
  Please bear the actual cost for shipping charges outside Japan.

As the products are made of natural materials and manufactured by hand, they may have some defects. We try to provide as much information as possible in text and images, but please understand that there may be cases where such defects are not shown.