This January Brian Shure took nineteen graduate and undergraduate students from The Rhode Island School of Design to Japan. Before leaving, Brian worked with Hiromi Paper to schedule a visit to Echizen's papermills. This photograph is of the students, Brian's assistant Ritsuko and visiting artist Yoonmi Nam having a soba noodle lunch at the headquarters of Fukui paper.

soba lunch!

Our day trip to Echizen was very enjoyable and instructive. As the Shinkansen took us north from Kyoto the amount of snow in the countryside increased to the point that by the time we arrived, about an hour later, there was an average of 6 feet of snow on the roofs. We were assured that in the mountain pass visible just ahead it was twice as deep. The day was fairly warm though, and everyone, even grandparents, were wielding shovels of all kinds, filling pick-up trucks which were dumping the snow in the river. Some people were using two-person shovels, and some were even up on the roofs shoveling. It appeared to be exceptional weather.

We had a wonderful soba lunch at Fukui Paper cooperative headquarters, and then were taken to see three paper mills and a

paper marbling master. Many of the students tried the paper marbling (suminagashi) with helpful instruction from Mr. Tadao Fukuda, who is designated an Intangible Cultural Asset of Fukui Prefecture. What I liked most about his workshop was the simplicity of the materials and the equipment he used. Nothing fancy. Just water and ink, a little pine oil, and skill. And he is a very friendly and straight-forward craftsman who was happy to share his knowledge and materials with us. The same was true of the papermakers.

Mr. Ichibei Iwano, who has been designated an intangible cultural asset of the Japanese government (a national living treasure) showed us his workshop and explained what is unique about the incredibly strong Kizuki Hosho paper he makes specially for printmaking. He wasn't producing paper that day as he had to prepare for the arrival of NHK tv in the morning--they were going to tape a program of him making paper. The other mills were in full production. The crafts people had bowls of steaming water nearby--it wasn't that hot, but the room and the water in the paper vats was very cold, and they needed to frequently warm their hands to keep them from becoming numb. One shop made giant sheets of Kozo, some were two by three meters and needed four people working in perfect syncronization to make each sheet. Other smaller sheets were being formed by pairs of craftspeople--men as well as the women who traditionally make the paper. It was reassuring to see some young people working there. The third shop makes gampi. There was one young woman making the paper, and her assistants were two agile, ancient stooped women--one in her nineties. They were cutting up and joking with us, but at the same time they were working hard to interleave the large sheets of gampi with layers of muslin which they would pull out of a bucket of freezing water and wring out before smoothing perfectly onto the previous freshly made sheet. The heated metal driers were steaming away in the other corner of the shop. Some students got the chance to try to make a sheet of paper in this shop too.

After our visit to the mills, we headed over to the local natural spring bath (onsen) where we thawed out, washed and then luxuriated in steaming pools among the rocks out under the pines, with the snow falling on us and all these cute tanuki (racoon dogs) frolicking just a few feet from the baths. This pleasure was followed by a nice hot bowl of rice curry and as we headed back to the last train back to Kyoto, the students were commenting that with a bath and dinner like that waiting at the end of the day, the life of a papermaker there must be pretty wonderful.
-----Brian Shure

Among the many wonderful activities, and cultural events we experienced was a trip to a small mountain town called Echizen to see how many Japanese papers are made, and to meet one of the national treasures of Japan. This was truly an honor, and refreshing to see a man his age as spry and youthful as the day he took over from his father. He even expressed a great deal of concern for us all, as it had snowed and turned to slush making our shoes and clothes soaked with water. Well, Brian told me you (HPI) played a huge part in making this special visit happen. Thank you. Thank you, very much it truly was an honor.
-----Juan Garcia, first year graduate student