the love of the craft in japan

Plant sources for pulp used in making paper in Japan.

        Japanese paper making represents to the highest degree the oriental attitude towards this ancient craft. The very choice of ingredients for pulp takes on something more than the mere raw materials required to make a sheet of paper. Soetu Yanagi, the eminent Japanese folk craft scholar,in speaking of the three major sources for pulp in Japan, says: "Gampi, Kozo, and Mitsumata ‚ these build a tried of paper making materials, with the various kinds of Japanese papers taking their seats somewhere in this triad; Gampi-paper sitting at the top, Kozo-paper on the right, and  Mitsumata-paper on the left. In its dignity and lustrousness the beauty of Gampi is peerless, and its life endless. No paper under the sun can be nobler than this. Soft and hard, negative and active, go hand-in-hand herein. Kozo is the sterner sex who keeps guard over the land of paper. Its sinewy, tough fibers can bear any rough work. To this does Japanese paper owe its strength even now. Were it not for Kozo, how effeminate the world of paper would be! Beside Kozo, Mitsumata is the gentle sex which softens the realm of paper. No paper can be more graceful than this. It is of fine texture, smooth skin, and sweet temper. Without Mitsumata, paper would decrease in tasteful delicacy. In concert with Kozo, it has kept on protecting the life of Japanese paper... "

A Japanese papermaker removing wet sheet from flexible bam-
boo mold covering. The wet sheet is simply pulled off the
covering and neatly stacked. Use of Tororo-aoi mucilage pre-
vents sticking.

       These three - Kozo, Gampi, and Mitsumata - are the deciduous plants which are used in Japan for papermaking more than any other vegetable fibers. The best of the three variants of Kozo is scientifically called Broussonetia Kazi-noki, popularly known as the "paper mulberry." Before theadvent of paper into Japan, the people were said to have woven cloth from its bark and offered the cloth to the gods during festivals. Paper made from Kozo is resistant to water and is used in the manufacture of Slioji and Kappa (paper raincoat). Mitsumata (belonging to the Daphne Odora family) is so named because of its distinctive appearance‚Äîthree branches issuing from an upright stem.Hence its name, "three forks." Gampi, referred to as the "king of papers," is a plant which resists cultivation and as a consequence is scarce. This naturally increases the cost of manufacturing Gampi-paper above the others.

 Traditional techniques for making Washi.