Japanese Papermaking - Kami-suki

For creating Japanese woodblock prints, the handmade paper, called washi, is indispensable. Its peculiarity lies in the use of bast with long fibres and a special papermaking technique, nagashi-zuki, which is unique in the world. As opposed to the Western woodblock, where a layer of oil-based ink is printed on top of the paper, the water-based ink is pressed deeply into the paper while printing with the Japanese technique. The very absorbent and strong Japanese paper is able to absorb the ink evenly and to resist the even repeated printing processes without loosing its shape.

Handmade paper has an old tradition in Japan and was used over the centuries for the most different purposes. Paper was used for letters, calligraphy, woodblock prints, books and as wrapping paper, but also lamps and umbrellas were made from it, and sliding doors were pasted with it. Paper was used for weaving clothes and ropes, even waterproof raincoats. Shaped and lacquered it was used for making boxes. Because of his lightness and strength it was used for fireworks and of course as toilet paper.
Washi had also a lot of meaning in the spiritual life, i. e. at the sacred places of the shinto religion.

History

The history of paper starts in China. As the inventor of paper the court official Ts'ai Lung is considered, who presented his paper in the year 105 A. D. to emperor Ho Ti. This paper was actually an improvement of former papers, made from the barks of mulberry trees, hemp, old fisher nets and rags. After this presentation paper soon got very popular and replaced the bamboo strips as a medium of writing.
In the year 610 paper came from China over Korea to Japan, where it was presented to empress Suiko by the Buddhist monk and craftsman Danchó. One of Suikos princes, Shotoku, improved this paper and initiated the plantation of kozo trees, which are a kind of mulberry tree.

In the Nara period (710-784) with its rich cultural life, paper already had much meaning. The first printed text of the world is dated in this period: the dharani, which were ordered from empress Shotoku. These were Buddhist verses, which were printed until 770 in an edition of one million and were stored in small wooden pagodas. The paper used for them was made mostly from kozo and hemp. Many papers were dyed or created in other special ways, which shows that the papermaking process of that time was already quite sophisticated. During the Nara and the following Heian period, copying of Buddhist sutras was very popular among aristocrats, and the need for paper grew rapidly. The general population, however, had hardly access to paper.

In the Heian period (795-1185) the number of paper producing provinces grew from nine to forty. During the regency of emperor Keijo (806-9), the court initiated a perfectly equipped paper mill, the kanya-in on the Kanya river at Kyoto, which produced 20 000 sheets of the size 60 x 36 cm every year, exclusively for the courts consumption.
The decline of the court power then also effected its paper mill. The papermakers, who had lived a slave-like life until then, mixed with the civil population and gave their knowledge to them. More and more private papermaking studios emerged. Beside hemp and kozo, also the wild growing bush gampi was used.

In the Japanese middle age, the Samurai period (1192-1603), the power moved from the emperors court to the samurai. The conditions got more democratic and so the situation for trading became better. Because of this and the huge need for paper, papermaking progressed rapidly.
There was paper for many different purposes like the popular paper from Mino, which was used in the Edo period for all official documents. Paper from Tosa and Suo were used for the daily needs. The thin and soft yoshino-gami was used as toilet paper and for filtration.
At this time, paper was mostly made by farmers during the winter season as an extra income. Normally a papermaking family had a studio with one or two vats - some papermaking villages, however, had bigger studios with up to 20 and more vats.

During the Edo period (1603-1868), when Japan was shutting itself from the outside world, the daimyos (sovereigns) were maintaining paper mills for their own consumption and for giving tribute to the Shogun. The papermakers guaranteed for the paper quality with their and their families lives.
The most popular paper of that time was the hanshi, which was used for books, notebooks, umbrellas and sliding doors. It's size was 25 x 35 cm. From hosokawa, documents and maps were made. The santome was used for wrapping clothes. Winter clothes were made from thick paper like the senka from Iyo, while ceremony clothes and mosquito nets were made from shifu . An important aspect was the use of paper for woodblock prints with water-based inks. Thousands of editions were printed and sold for little money.

After Japan opened up in the 1860ies, the government of the Meiji emperor initiated a new industrial development to stand even with the countries of the Western world. This resulted in an increasing need for paper, and in consequence the mechanical production of paper was introduced in Japan. While the demand for handmade paper was decreasing, the papermaking craft stayed alive.
In the end of World War II, the Japanese papermakers were involved in a military project: about 10 000 paper balloons were built to fly to the USA, carrying bombs. But not many of these balloons arrived, and hardly any damage was done.

Today, the paper lost its meaning in many of the traditional areas. For the huge demand of the writing and printing industries, paper is produced using the Western method, and many things like umbrells and lamps are made of cheaper materials.
The craft of papermaking has changed as well: unlike in the old days, when paper was made only during the winter season - which was better for producing high quality papers -, papermaking nowadays is done all year round. Some of the natural materials were substituted by chemicals, and now machines are used. There are much less papermaking studios today, and the knowledge about papermaking is not as common as it used to be. The demand for handmade paper, however, is big and still has a lot of meaning: washi is still used as letter paper, for calligraphy, notebooks, business cards etc.. It is also the perfect paper for Japanese woodblock printmaking, and it is used for artistic purposes.

Technique

In old times, papermaking was a side business of the farmers, who were living in the mountains and thus didn't have so much land suitable for rice farming, but a lot of clear water from the rivers instead. These papermakers were doing the complete production, from the cutting of the trees to the papermaking. The season usually began in November with the rice harvest and ended in April or May with the rice planting. The coldness of the winter also was an advantage for making paper by naturally conserving materials.

Materials

The traditional plants which yielded the fibres that were used for papermaking are the kozo tree (today the most common) and the bushes gampi and mitsumata. Here, I am referring to the use of the wild growing kozo (Broussonentia Kajinoki), which is a member of the mulberry tree family.

Harvest

The branches of the kozo are cut in November after the leafs haven fallen down. They are cut right above the trunk and put in bundles of the same length.

Steaming the branches and removing the bark

Only the inner white bark is used for papermaking. Therefore, the bark has to be removed from the wooden part of the branch. To facilitate this process, the branch bundles are steamed for one or two hours. This happens inside an airproof barrel or box over a cauldron with hot water.
After the steaming process, the barks are soft and can be pulled down very easily.

The steaming and removing of the bark was a very popular work which was done in teams by villagers of all ages and both sexes.

In this state, the bark is called kuro kawa (black bark). Then it can also be dried and storied for a later need.

Removing the outer barks

If processed further, the outer black bark and the green bark under that are removed with a sharp knife, together with other spots or damages in the bark. The remaining inner bark is white and called shiro kawa. Only this is used for making fine paper.

Cooking the white barks

The cooking and washing of the barks has big influence on the paper, depending on the cooking time and the dosage of the used chemicals. The barks are cooked in an alkaline solution in order to remove all parts except the fibre (as pectin, wax and rubber). Traditionally potash was used for that whereas today this is done with soda ash. After cooking, the water is brown and the barks have to be washed. Traditionally this is done in a bamboo basket in a river.
Then, the fibres can be pulled apart very easily.

Bleaching the white bark

Paper made from this bark is not white but has a yellow tone. For a whiter paper the barks have to be bleached, which was done in the river by fixing the barks with stones in the river bed. Today, chemicals are used for bleaching.

Removing specks

Now, the barks look like of silk. They are prepared for the removal of specks, dust etc. This work, called chiri-tori, is very exhausting and mostly done by middle-aged women. While the barks are floating in the running water of a river or in a bowl, the specks are removed with the fingers. For producing high quality paper, the process is done repeatedly. Afterwards, the pieces are pressed to balls.

Beating

Then, these balls are put onto a board made of hard wood or stone and beaten with rods or hammers. This will pull the fibres apart without destroying them. This work was traditionally done by women at night time, so that the material was ready in the morning for the papermaking. During the beating, the women sang special beating songs. Nowadays, machines are doing that work without singing.

Papermaking

To finally make the paper, the fibre pulp is given into a vat with water and mixed well with it, so the fibres are floating evenly in the water.

Especially for the technique called nagashi-zuki (described later), a mucilage substance is added, called neri, which is extracted from the roots of the plant tororo-aoi (Hibiscus Manihot L.). Neri is a very important part of the Japanese papermaking, because it makes the fibres float evenly and prevents them from sinking down. Also, it makes the pulp run more slowly through the mould during the papermaking and prevents the formed paper sheets from sticking together. Today, neri is available in synthetic form.

There are two methods of Japanese papermaking. The one is called tame-zuki and is similar to the western method. The mould is sipped down in the vat and moved vertically and horizontally until the water has run down and a layer of clinging paper fibres remains. This paper layer is pressed onto a pile, while the single sheets are separated from each other with cloth.

The second method, which is typical for Japan and unique in the world, is called nagashi-zuki. The mould which is used here consists of an outer frame, the keta, which is holding a movable bamboo screen, called the su.

The papermaking starts with the so called kesho-mizu: while dipping the mould very shortly into the pulp and dumping it after that, the mould is covered with a thin layer of fibres. This results in a smooth paper surface and prevents the sheets from sticking together.
After that, the mould is dipped into the vat again, and this time the pulp is moved back and forth over it for quite a while with vertical and horizontal movements. Before the water has completely run down, the rest is poured out, while bigger fibre parts or knots are removed as well. This process can be done repeatedly until the paper has the desired thickness. After that, the frame is opened and the inner screen removed. It is raised over the head and put down onto the pile with the sheets already formed. While pouring water over the front edge of the screen, the paper layer separates from the screen.

Pressing the paper

The freshly formed paper is very wet and cannot be dried in this state. Therefore it has to be pressed, which requires a lot of skill and experience. The power in pressing the paper can influence the result.
Traditionally the papers were pressed by charging the paper with heavy beams or in screw presses. Today, hydraulic presses are used. The pressure has to be increased very slowly to prevent the paper from being damaged.

Drying the paper

After the pressing the paper is ready for drying. Traditionally, the papers are brushed onto a board of pine wood with a brush from horse hair. Aditionally the edges of the papers are pushed onto the board with a wet camellia leaf. The boards then are exposed to the sun. Today, papers are dried on hot plates, too.

Last steps

When the papers are dry, they are taken from the boards and roughly divided into three classes of different quality. Before being sold they are checked again. Every paper has to have a certain colour and thickness and has to be free of spots. Some papers are cut to remove the deckle edge. The finished paper of course makes the papermakers feel very happy.

I want to thank my teacher Okuda Yoshiharu, Kosaka Masahiro, Tsuna City and all the other people, who were involved.

Eva Pietzcker, 2004

Back to top