This is an excellent book on Sumi, the art of brush lettering. The only thing missing is an explanation of how to "make" ink from the soot. I had never done this type of work and the "beginning" book seemed to take up once the ink was made. I didn't know what was in my new Sumi kit and further what to do with what was there. A chapter on the contents of a kit and how to use each item would have helped me to get off to a faster start. Instead, I found a U-tube video of the how-tos.