Water dropper (calligraphy)

A water-dropper (Japanese: 水滴, Hepburn: suiteki, Chinese: 水滴; pinyin: shuǐdī) is a small device used in East Asian calligraphy. It's a container designed to hold a small amount of water. In order to make ink a few drops of water are dropped onto the plane of the inkstone. Through grinding an inkstick, particles come off and mix with water, forming ink.

Water-droppers may be made of copper, jade and stone or ceramic. A water-dropper has two small holes for water and air, it is designed so that only a few drops of water can fall at one time.

There are a few types of water-droppers.