“Foreign papers are made to last for 100 years while traditional Japanese papers are for 1,000 years.” Most Japanese people these days don’t consider “foreign paper” as “foreign” any more, rather call it just “paper,” while differentiating Japanese traditional paper as WASHI (meaning "Japanese Paper") . WASHI seems to be something luxurious, special or not for daily use. At least this is how I felt about “WASHI” before.
“IRASHAIMASE!”
As soon as we went through the entrance of the headquarter building of OZU-SAN GYO Co., Ltd., located in Nihonbashi, bending down a bit under the NOREN, a lady stopped her hands and smiled at us, saying “Welcome.”
OZU SANGYO has been doing wholesale business of WASHI for over 350 years at the exact same place with the same technique and spirit. They not only keep the old spirit but also adapt to the new, reading and responding to the time when it lives. OZU SANGYO has been located in one of the most striving commercial areas in Tokyo since the EDO period (1603-1867). Some of our blog readers may have seen scenes of UKIYOE, Japanese woodblock print, that can easily bring us to feel daily moments of merchants’ towns back in time. There is a piece of UKIYOE left where you can spot the first shop of building of OZU-SANGYO!
Back in EDO period, given its strength, WASHI was used to manufacture a wide range of products, such as umbrellas, lanterns, cloths (kimono), dishes and so on. What surprised us the most was, while Mr. Kaneko showed us around in the museum of OZU SANGYO, the WASHI’s amazing characteristics to perpetuate SUMI (carbon) ink. Once it gets penetrated and dried thoroughly, it can hardly be blurred even when soaked with water.
In EDO town, there were fires frequently. Merchants could not lose their important business documents. What did they do? They threw those documents into wells. Once the fires were gone, they would pick up their documents from wells and dry them thoroughly. Magic! All the information was back.
WASHI was and still is made one by one with the hands of skilled craftsmen. According to Mr. Noguchi, in order for those small WASHI craftsmen to keep creating beautiful papers and not to lose their skills, OZU SANGYO is facing the challenge to have more and more people in and outside of Japan know about WASHI and its wonderful characteristics and potentials for our time.
In the next update, I would like to write how OZU SANGYO has evolved with WASHI, creating different products such as non-weaved fabrics, and where they are heading.
