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| Boiling dried kozo |
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Tororaoi after soaking in water
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| Pulp solution in papermaking vat |
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The paper making workshop produces it’s own paper and trains young apprentices, as well as being a tourist attraction. In addition to the washi course I took, adults and children can make their own postcards and learn simple dyeing techniques. I had three days to learn the basics of traditional washi making under the guidance of my instructor, Kitaoka Hirofumi. To make washi professionally takes about five days and years of practice, experience and hard work, and my three days really just scratched the surface. It was an excellent learning experience, which gave me a much greater insight, understanding and appreciation of Japanese hand made paper.
A couple of days before I begun the course the raw dried kozo was soaked in water for 24hrs in order to swell the material and wash away any soluble impurities. The kozo was then boiled in a solution of water and alkali for two hours, occasionally stirring to ensure that it cooked well. Once cooked the material was then washed in running water. As there was limited time the plant material wasn’t bleached, but this would normally be done, either naturally by rinsing outside under direct sunlight, or by treating with chlorine. If using chlorine, the material would be thoroughly washed to remove any residual chemical.
The next stage was to remove the remaining bark and other blemishes from the boiled plant matter, and I spent most of the first day doing this. This is a very important step in the process as any imperfections that are missed will become flaws in the paper. The most professional and diligent washi maker will spend two days doing this, as even the smallest speck will mark the paper. It is also one of the most arduous and tiring steps in making washi as you are bent over the material in the same position for several hours at a time. Traditionally paper makers would kneel by a channelled stream picking the specks out in the cold running water.
Once the imperfections had been removed the material needed to be pounded in order to soften and separate the fibres. Traditionally this would have been done by hand with a wooden mallet, but nowadays it is usually done by machine. The fibres were pounded for approximately 1 hour, occasionally stopping the machine to ensure that all the fibre were being beaten evenly. The pounded material was then placed into a naginata beater separator for approx. 30 minutes to further separate the kozo fibres.
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