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Schematics of a typical Yatate

Yatate (矢立) are small personal smoking-pipe-shaped writing sets from medieval Japan which provided a carrying box for the ink cotton, and a shaft for a brush (and possibly a letter opener).

Usage

Yatate literally means "Arrow Stand" ("ya-tate"). The name comes from the fact that early bushi used their inking stone as a stand for their arrows.

Japanese writing was traditionally done using the usual writing set inspired from China: an inking stone, a small stick of solid ink (sumi) (which is turned to liquid, usable ink by grinding on the inking stone and watering), and brushes. The set is heavy, clumsy, and it takes some amount of time before being ready to write.^[1][2]

A typical Yatate under several angles

During the Kamakura era (1185-1333), the idea of ink-saturated cotton appeared. By touching the cotton with a brush, one made it ready to write. By enclosing the cotton in a little box ("sumi tsubo"), it was possible to carry the set around without risk of spilling ink.

The first yatate were long boxes, with the ink compartment in the axis of the pen. The "smoking pipe" shape was designed to increase the quantity of available ink. In the late Edo era, another design was developed, with the ink box attached to the pen shaft by a chain; the ink box was used as a netsuke to fix the yatate to the belt (other yatate are simply put in the belt like a fan).

During the time when carrying a nihonto (Japanese sword) was forbidden for all except the warrior caste, some yatate were designed in a way that they could be used for self-defense. There are even examples of yatate concealing small bladed weapons.

Some late yatate were made of a special alloy of gold and copper called shakudo, specifically designed to turn purple-black over the time, and give the yatate its finish.

Notes

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