> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.gchicco.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Ink, Stone, Brush, Paper and Tea
- URL: https://www.gchicco.com/ink-stone-brush-paper-and-tea/
- Published: 2025-03-10T13:30:28.000Z
- Updated: 2025-03-10T13:30:28.000Z
- Author: Gianfranco Chicco
- Tags: Blog

This weekend I returned to calligraphy after months away. Grinding ink on stone offers a welcome relief from screens. In contrast to the numbness of touching glass on a smartphone, you feel the scent of the ink forming, the sound and feeling of friction rubbing on the inkstone, applying soft and hard pressure on the brush.

As the muscle memory gradually returned, I practiced two expressions:

### 職人 (Shokunin)

Artisan, craftsman.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/01/d0/01d08198-2c67-4cdc-a041-7d7c7d50e709/content/images/2025/03/2025-Shodo-Shokunin-by-Gianfranco-Chicco-01-1.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/01/d0/01d08198-2c67-4cdc-a041-7d7c7d50e709/content/images/2025/03/2025-Shodo-Shokunin-by-Gianfranco-Chicco-02.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/01/d0/01d08198-2c67-4cdc-a041-7d7c7d50e709/content/images/2025/03/2025-Shodo-Shokunin-by-Gianfranco-Chicco-03.jpg)

### 喫茶去 (Kissako)

A Zen phrase that translates to "go drink tea" or "have a cup of tea". 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/01/d0/01d08198-2c67-4cdc-a041-7d7c7d50e709/content/images/2025/03/2025-Shodo-Kissako-by-Gianfranco-Chicco-07.jpg)

I always emerge from my shodō practice session with a feeling of mental clarity that lasts until the evening, like moving meditation.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/01/d0/01d08198-2c67-4cdc-a041-7d7c7d50e709/content/images/2025/03/2025-Shodo-Tools-and-Tea-by-Gianfranco-Chicco-01.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/01/d0/01d08198-2c67-4cdc-a041-7d7c7d50e709/content/images/2025/03/2025-Shodo-Tools-and-Tea-by-Gianfranco-Chicco-02.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/01/d0/01d08198-2c67-4cdc-a041-7d7c7d50e709/content/images/2025/03/2025-Shodo-Tools-and-Tea-by-Gianfranco-Chicco-03.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/01/d0/01d08198-2c67-4cdc-a041-7d7c7d50e709/content/images/2025/03/2025-Shodo-Kissako-by-Gianfranco-Chicco-01.jpg)

Tools of the trande and tea