Solid Ink Horitomo Sumi Tattoo Inks

The Solid Ink Horitomo Sumi Collection brings traditional Japanese tattooing techniques into a professional range of black and grey tattoo pigments developed in collaboration with renowned Japanese-style tattoo artist Horitomo. Inspired by the use of sumi ink in traditional Japanese tattooing, this collection gives artists a coordinated range of tones for building depth, contrast, and smooth black-and-grey transitions.

Designed with Irezumi in mind, Horitomo Sumi inks are especially useful for Japanese-style backgrounds, wind bars, clouds, waves, dragons, koi fish, and other subjects that rely on strong tonal relationships. Each shade offers a different level of darkness, allowing tattooers to work from solid black through softer grey tones.

This listing allows artists to purchase individual Horitomo Sumi pigments, making it easy to replace frequently used shades or build a personalized black-and-grey palette.

Product Details

• Collection: Horitomo Sumi

• Color Family: Black / Grey

• Developed in collaboration with Horitomo

• Inspired by traditional Japanese sumi ink techniques

• Professional tattoo pigments

• Individual shades sold separately

• Manufactured by Solid Ink

Why Artists Choose Horitomo Sumi Inks

The Horitomo Sumi collection offers tattooers a coordinated approach to black-and-grey work rooted in traditional Japanese tattooing. Rather than mixing every grey tone from black, artists can select from prepared shades to maintain consistency throughout larger compositions.

These inks are particularly useful for the expansive backgrounds and flowing elements common in Japanese tattooing, where transitions between dark and light areas help establish movement, dimension, and contrast.

The collection also gives artists flexibility to select the tones they use most often without purchasing an entire set.

Available Shades

Solid Ink's Horitomo Sumi range includes four shades. 

• Sumi Black – The darkest pigment in the collection, used for strong black areas and maximum contrast.

• Sumi Dark – A dark grey wash for deeper shading and transitions near black.

• Sumi Medium – A mid-range grey wash for balanced shading and tonal transitions.

• Sumi Light – A lighter grey wash for softer shading and subtle background areas.

• Black
• Dark
• Medium
• Light
• Sold individually as 2 and 4 oz Light, Medium, Dark, and Black