Tosa Traditional Japanese PaperPhoto：Kochi Prefecture

  • Traditional Japanese paper
  • Kochi

Tosa Traditional Japanese Paper Tosa Washi

Tosa Washi is known for being exceptionally thin yet strong, with a supple and refined texture. Made from natural fibers such as kozo, mitsumata, and gampi using the region’s pure water, it includes around 300 varieties, including the renowned Tosa Tengujo paper. It was designated a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government in 1976.

Description

What is Tosa Traditional Japanese Paper ?

Tosa Washi is a traditional Japanese paper produced mainly in Tosa City and Ino Town in Kochi Prefecture. Using plant fibers such as kozo, mitsumata, and gampi, papermakers have developed a wide variety of papers in an environment blessed with abundant clean water, including that of the Niyodo River. In 1976, Tosa Washi was designated as a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government.

One of the defining characteristics of Tosa Washi is the remarkable diversity of papers produced for different purposes. These range from thin yet durable sheets to calligraphy paper, shoji and fusuma paper, wrapping paper, and paper for artistic use. Tosa Tengujo-shi is especially well known for its exceptional thinness.

Extremely thin papers such as Tosa Tengujo-shi are made by carefully dispersing the long, strong fibers of kozo and forming them into remarkably even sheets through highly refined papermaking techniques. Their combination of thinness and strength makes them particularly suitable for the conservation and restoration of artworks, cultural properties, books, and other valuable materials, both in Japan and overseas.

Historically, Tosa Washi was also used for everyday objects such as wallets, medicine containers, and lanterns. Today, its applications extend to calligraphy, fine art, printmaking, packaging, interiors, and daily-use products, while both traditional handmade paper and machine-made varieties continue to be produced.

History

The history of Tosa Washi extends for more than a thousand years. The Engishiki, a compilation of laws and administrative regulations completed in 927, lists Tosa Province as one of the regions that supplied paper to the Imperial Court. This record indicates that papermaking was already established in the area during the Heian period.

In 930, the poet Ki no Tsurayuki was appointed governor of Tosa Province and is traditionally said to have encouraged local papermaking. With abundant water and access to plants such as kozo, the region gradually developed into an important center of Japanese paper production.

In the late sixteenth century, a distinctive type of dyed paper known as Tosa Nanairo-gami, or Tosa Seven-Colored Paper, was developed in Naruyama, now part of Ino Town. In 1601, Yamanouchi Kazutoyo, lord of the Tosa domain, presented the paper to the Tokugawa shogunate, and Naruyama subsequently became a protected center for producing official paper.

In 1860, Yoshii Genta of Ino developed a larger papermaking screen and frame, helping improve production efficiency. During the Meiji period, further technical advances followed. Around 1880, extremely thin paper known as Tosa Tengujo-shi began to be produced under Yoshii’s guidance, and by the middle of the Meiji era, Kochi had become one of Japan’s leading regions for washi production.

Over time, Tosa Washi expanded beyond calligraphy and household papers into fine-art paper, printmaking paper, and specialized papers used in the conservation and restoration of cultural properties.

On December 15, 1976, Tosa Washi was designated as a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government. Today, papermaking techniques developed over many centuries continue to be practiced mainly in Tosa City and Ino Town.

Production Process

Tosa Traditional Japanese Paper - Production Process

  1. 1. Boiling The basic raw materials for Tosa Washi are mainly the bark of three plants: paper mulberry, paperbush and gampi. The method used to make the paper differs slightly according to the quality of the paper or its application. In the case of paper mulberry, the basic method is to separate the white part from the outer black part, wash it, and bleach it in water. After it has been bleached in cold water for a fixed amount of time, the materials are boiled. In order to make beautiful Japanese paper, alkaline solutions, such as soda ash or lime ash, are added and then it is boiled down for two to four hours. By adding alkaline substances, it is possible to extract only the fibers.
  2. 2. Washing and bleaching The next step is to rinse the boiled Japanese paper materials in a limpid stream. The work of thinly spreading and washing the materials repeatedly requires a lot of effort and takes a whole day and night. Then the thoroughly washed and rinsed Japanese paper materials are bleached in the sun or by using bleaching liquid. Even materials that are a little discolored due to steaming gradually become white by exposing them to the sun for 3-4 hours.
  3. 3. Cleaning Parts of the outer bark or dust particles still remain in the washed and boiled-down raw material. These unwanted pieces must be carefully removed by hand. Properly removing the impurities can help to produce a strong finish to the Japanese paper and make it less likely to have spots or deteriorate as much with age.
  4. 4. Beating Rather than spreading the fibers out and beating them, they are rolled into a round ball and beaten with a stick. Recently, machines have been used more often for this work of beating the fibers. The beating is done to make it easier to separate the fibers for papermaking. Fibers that have been firmly beaten spread out easily when placed in water.
  5. 5. Thinning Materials that have been sufficiently softened by beating are placed in a thinning basket, which is a small basket filled with water where the fibers are thoroughly separated. This work, called thinning, plays an important role in determining the quality of the paper.
  6. 6. Papermaking After the fibers have been properly prepared, a gelatinous substance is added to the fibers to create the proper conditions for papermaking. This gelatinous thickener, called neri and made from a plant called aibika, is put into the water while loosening the fibers in the raw material. The correct amount of neri is a very important point because if the amount is too small the water is lost and if there is too much, it is impossible to drain when making the paper.
    When the gelatinous substance and the fibers are thoroughly mixed together, it is time to start papermaking. There are two processes in papermaking, nagashisuki (papermaking in flowing water), and tamesuki (papermaking using stored water). With nagashisuki, the liquid paper is scooped up in a paper making vat and gently shaken back and forth to give the paper a uniform thickness. The tamesuki technique involves draining the water after scooping up the fibers in the liquid. Since the concentration of the materials changes whilst making the paper, attention must be paid toward making all the paper an equal thickness.
  7. 7. Dehydration Next, the water is thoroughly drained from the papermaking materials. Weights are placed on top of the sheets of paper made and after being left overnight, are dehydrated in a compressor. Until recently, a lever was used.
  8. 8. Drying After dehydration is completed, the Tosa paper is thoroughly dried. There are currently two methods used to dry the paper: drying in the sun and thermal drying. For sun-drying, which is used most often, each piece of paper is carefully spread on a drying board and dried in the sunlight.
  9. 9. Cutting and packing The paper becomes suitable for usage after being carefully aligned and cut down to size. Then, once trimmed, the Tosa Washi must be put into bundles for shipping. One bundle of washi is two hundred sheets in sets of ten. The two thousand sheets of paper in one unit are packaged and the trading unit for packing is known as a maru or round.

Representative Manufacturers

Tosa Washi Inoue Papermaking Workshop

Tosa Washi Inoue Papermaking Workshop

Facility Information

Inocho Paper Museum

Other Traditional Japanese paper

Other Crafts Made in Kochi