Washi — The Ancient Japanese Art of Paper Making

Washi — literally "Japanese paper" (和紙, wa meaning Japan, shi meaning paper) — is one of the world''s most extraordinary material traditions: a handmade paper produced from plant fibers that is simultaneously one of the most delicate and one of the strongest papers ever made. A sheet of properly made washi paper is translucent enough to transmit light like a lampshade, flexible enough to be folded hundreds of times without breaking, and durable enough to survive for over a thousand years — making it the material of choice for storing Japan''s most important historical documents, artistic works, and sacred texts.

Papermaking technology was transmitted to Japan from China via Korea in the 7th century AD, during the reign of Empress Suiko. The technique was immediately adopted and adapted by Japanese craftspeople, who substituted the Chinese mulberry with the Japanese kozo (paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera) — a plant whose long, strong bark fibers produce a paper fundamentally different in character from Chinese or Western papers. Over the following centuries, Japanese craftspeople developed a distinctive papermaking technique called nagashizuki — "flowing screen" — that differs fundamentally from the Chinese method and produces the characteristic qualities of washi.

The production of washi begins in winter — the only time of year when the combination of cold water and correct fiber condition allows the finest washi to be produced. The craftsman harvests the outer bark of the kozo plant and steams it until softened. The outer dark skin is removed by hand, leaving only the white inner bark — a painstaking process called shirokawa that requires hours of skilled manual work. The white bark is then boiled with wood ash lye to break down the cellulose fibers, rinsed in pure cold river water, and beaten by hand or with wooden mallets until the fibers separate into a loose, silky mass.

The beaten fibers are mixed with pure cold water in a large wooden vat to create a dilute suspension of individual fibers. The papermaker then performs the central act of washi production — the nagashizuki technique — dipping a flexible bamboo screen (suketa) into the vat and lifting it out in a single smooth motion, capturing a thin layer of fibers on the screen''s surface. The screen is tilted and swayed in multiple directions — forward, backward, sideways — allowing the water to drain away while the fibers align in a complex interlocking network. Additional fiber-laden water is poured over the screen and the motion repeated, building up the sheet to the desired thickness. This motion requires years to master — the slightest variation in timing, pressure, or angle changes the paper''s texture, strength, and translucency.

The wet paper sheets are peeled from the screen and pressed in stacks to remove most of the water, then separated individually and dried by pressing against heated wooden boards. When dry, a sheet of washi has extraordinary dimensional stability — it neither shrinks nor expands significantly with changes in humidity — making it an ideal material for fine art, architectural applications, and archival storage.

Washi has been used throughout Japanese history for applications that reveal its exceptional qualities. The shoji screens that define traditional Japanese architecture — translucent room dividers that diffuse light without blocking it — are made from washi stretched over wooden frames, and have defined Japanese interior aesthetics for over a thousand years. Japanese woodblock print masters from Hokusai to Hiroshige printed their works exclusively on washi because its absorbent yet resilient surface allowed the finest rendering of ink and pigment. Japanese calligraphers consider the relationship between washi and ink inseparable from the art itself. Japan''s Imperial Household Agency stores its most precious historical documents — some over 1,200 years old — on washi, which remains stable and readable while wood-pulp paper from the 20th century has already begun to deteriorate.

UNESCO inscribed the traditional craft of Washi handmade in Ogawa (Saitama Prefecture), Mino (Gifu Prefecture), and Echizen (Fukui Prefecture) on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014. These three communities represent regional centers where the most refined washi traditions have been maintained. Despite UNESCO recognition, the number of traditional washi craftspeople has declined from over 100,000 in the Meiji period to fewer than 300 today — making the continuity of the tradition a matter of acute urgency.