Washi: Japan’s Traditional Handmade Paper and Where to Experience It
Washi — Japanese handmade paper — was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2014, recognizing three regional traditions: Honminoshi (Gifu), Hosokawashi (Saitama), and Sekishuwashi (Shimane). The craft of making paper from kozo (mulberry), gampi, or mitsumata plant fibers has been practiced in Japan since the seventh century, and today’s artisans use techniques that have changed little in a thousand years. The result — sheets of extraordinary strength, translucency, and longevity — continues to serve calligraphy, printing, architecture, and art restoration worldwide.
How Washi is Made
The papermaking process begins with steaming and stripping the bark from kozo branches, then cooking the inner bark in ash lye to separate the fibers. The softened fibers are beaten by hand or machine into a slurry, then mixed with water and a mucilaginous substance called neri (extracted from tororo-aoi plant roots) that controls how the fibers spread and interlock. The papermaker scoops the diluted fiber suspension onto a bamboo or reed screen (su) mounted in a wooden frame, shaking the screen in specific patterns to distribute the fibers evenly as water drains through. The formed sheet is pressed and dried on a wooden board in sunlight or with gentle heat.
The characteristic strength of washi — sheets can be folded thousands of times without tearing and survive for over a millennium — comes from the long kozo fibers that interlock in all directions during the shaking process. Western machine-made paper, using shorter fibers aligned unidirectionally, lacks this structural integrity.
Regional Washi Traditions
Echizen (Fukui Prefecture): Japan’s largest washi production area, with over 1,500 years of documented history. Echizen produces a wide range from thin calligraphy paper to thick decorative sheets, and maintains a living craft community in the Imadate district. The Udatsu Townscape — a well-preserved merchant street in nearby Mino — and the Echizen Washi no Sato cultural center both offer hands-on papermaking experiences. Echizen paper is used by the Bank of Japan for banknote production and by art conservators worldwide.
Mino (Gifu Prefecture): Honminoshi, the UNESCO-listed Mino washi, is characterized by extreme thinness (as thin as 0.03mm) and uniformity; it is the preferred paper for traditional shoji screen repair and for precision printing applications. The Mino Washi Museum in Mino city demonstrates the full production process, and the Mino Washi Akari Art Festival — held each October — uses washi lanterns to illuminate the city’s historic merchant quarter.
Ogawa (Saitama Prefecture): Hosokawashi production near Tokyo, historically serving the Edo printing and calligraphy markets. The Ogawa Washi Center offers English-language workshops; its proximity to Tokyo (approximately 70 minutes by train) makes it the most accessible washi workshop from the capital.
Hands-On Papermaking Workshops
Introductory washi workshops run approximately 60–90 minutes and are available at most production center museums. Participants scoop, shake, and form their own sheets; the finished paper is dried and can be taken home or mailed. The Echizen Washi no Sato and Mino Washi Museum both accommodate English-speaking visitors with advance reservation. Advanced workshops involving fiber preparation and neri extraction are available at specialist studios for visitors with more time.
Workshop paper frequently has natural inclusions — dried flowers, leaves, or colored fiber strands — that make each sheet distinctive. Many participants produce writing paper, notecards, or postcards as their workshop output.
Washi in Contemporary Use
Washi’s applications extend well beyond calligraphy and traditional crafts. The material is used in haute couture textile work, architectural lighting, bookbinding, currency production, and fine art printmaking. Contemporary artists use washi as a printing substrate for limited-edition works; interior designers specify washi panels for wall coverings and sliding doors. Japanese stationery shops in major cities stock a wide range of washi products from decorative tape to notebooks, providing accessible entry points for visitors interested in the material.