"The first thing that I learned from my father was how to choose the right type of hairs," says Yoshio Tanabe, the fude (Japanese writing brush) maker who owns Tanabe Bunkaido. Selecting the hairs is the first and most important step taken in the brush-making process, he says.
"The fude maker has to have a good eye to do this. The way to distinguish between good hair and bad is to see its luster and how flexible it is when bent." According to Tanabe, the best type of hair for making writing brushes is sheep wool, especially thin hairs that don't snap easily.
After the selection is made, he processes the wool by boiling it and sprinkling it with the ash of burned rice hulls to remove the grease and make it more absorbent. The hairs are rubbed, squeezed, blended and put together in several steps. Then the brush tip is inserted deeply into a stem, with only about one-third sticking out, and glued in place. The inside of the stem has been ground and polished to fit the tip. Tanabe uses stems made from water buffalo horn, though bamboo is also used by some makers.
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