Tosa Washi (traditional Japanese paper made in Kochi)

The origin of Tosa Washi is very old ( about a thousand years ago). In the early Edo period (Edo period=1603-1867), the production of Tosa_Washi was encouraged by Tosa_Han ( Kochi_prefecture was called Tosa_Han till the Meiji Restoration.). Tosa_washi is handmade and large-scale production is difficult. So from Meiji_Restoration (1868) onwards, Tosa_washi has been replaced by manufacturing mechanically.

Recently traditional Japanese Paper such as Tosa_Washi is producted in small scale as a traditional craft. Tosa_Washi is used for calligraphy, handicraft, fusuma (a thick papered sliding door for partitioning rooms in a Japanese house), shoji (ditto), a paper for painting, wrapping paper and various interiors.

Jump to Production process of Tosa_Washi
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Production process of Tosa_Washi

1. Material
The material is the bark of woods. Kinds of woods are Kozo (paper mulberry), Mitsmata (Edgeworthia chrysantha) and Ganpi (Diplomorpha sikokiana).

Raw material	Barks	Steamer

2. Boil
The above materials are boiled for 2-4hrs with Na2CO3, NaOH and Ca(OH)2, because of getting only pulp fibers from materials.

Boil	Big iron pot

3.Wash and Bleaching
After boiling, these treated materials are washed and dipped in the stream of water, for a days. And then these are bleached by dry under the sun or by the bleaching agent. With this process, these intermediate materials whiten.

Wash	Tools

4.Removing the dust from the intermediates
This process is handwork and so it takes long time.

5.Beat & Disentangle
1)Beat under the dry condition
Long time ago, this process was also handwork using the club made from hard wood, but nowadays the machine is used for beat.

Beating	Beating tools

2)Disentangle in the water
Beaten materials are disentangled to more fine fibers by this process. Nowadays the machine named "beater" is used for the disentangle.

6.Making paper
The disentangled material is put into the shallow container filled with water and the viscous liquid made from a plant. After stirring well, the paper is making by using the bamboo screen.

Making paper	Sunoko (tool for making paper)	Container

7.Dehydration and dry
Wet papers are dehydrated by press machine and dried under the sun or using a drier.

Dehydration	Dehydration	Dry process in the old days	Dry process in the old days

8. Cutting
After the quality check, papers are cutted into various sizes and packed .

Cutting process in the old days	Cutting tools

Uses of Tosa Washi

1.Shoji (Japanese sliding door)

Shoji1	Shoji2	Shoji3

2.Lamp shade

3.Print

My old friend's work1	My old friend's work2	My old friend's work3
My old friend's work4	My old friend's work5	From local shop

4.Calligraphy

Sutra (A.D. 730)	Paper for sutra copied by hand	Hanging scroll with work of calligraphy

5.Tear - picture

6.Suibokuga (Ink_and_wash_painting)

7.Tray and Box

8.The other uses

9. Painting post card


This article is on the writing.