墨 means “ink, ink stick”

すみ · sumi

Also: black ink, India ink, Mexico

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

すみ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ボク

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 14 strokes

The story

Black (黒) over earth (土): soot and glue pressed into a stick and rubbed on a stone with water for calligraphy. 墨 is that ink: 水墨画 is ink-wash painting, and お墨付き, once a lord's inked signature, is any official seal of approval.

Used in 墨 (sumi, ink), 水墨画 (suibokuga, ink-wash painting), and お墨付き (osumitsuki, official approval)

More from Poems & Songs

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• 韻 rhyme
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• 彙 collection
• 楷 standard script
• 諧 harmony
• 響 echo
• 鈴 bell

Learn 墨 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.