“Precious notes on papermaking” (“Kamisuki chohoki”) as the first illustrated guide to papermaking

The article touches upon the phenomenon of Japanese handmade paper given the example of “Precious Notes on Papermaking” (“Kamisuki Chohoki”) as the first printed illustrated manual on papermaking in Japan. When Japanese masters borrowed first samples of paper from China, they spent long time to adopt new technology of papermaking and find the most fitting materials. Apart from western masters, who were engaged in making this process more mechanized, Japanese masters maintained manual way of papermaking up to 1872. All this time they considered quality more important than quantity. This probably made Japanese paper an example of highest quality. By experiencing with different materials masters managed to produce different kinds of paper suitable for various purposes. For instance, in housekeeping different kinds of paper were used to cover shoji and screens, to make clothes, to write, etc. While Japan was at peace for 300 years during Edo period, bookselling flourished, so papermaking was also in high demand. It was the time when the manual on papermaking “Kamisuki Chohoki” (1798) was published for the first time. It became well known not only among Japanese masters, but also among foreigners. In 1871, a British diplomat and a collector of Japanese paper Harry Smith Parkes quoted this book in his “Reports on the Manufacture of Paper in Japan”. Meanwhile the pictures presented in “Kamisuki Chohoki” were used to illustrate the process of papermaking in other different manuals. This article also examines, whether the text of “Kamisuki chohoki” could be used as a real guide to papermaking, for it seems not to cover papermaking process in full. The book was written by Kunisaki Jihei, a prosperous merchant from Iwami who traded in Osaka. Besides the papermaking process (from growing kozo plant to paper casting), Kunisaki also mentioned the cost for raw materials, work and made paper. The text is supplemented with illustrations by Niwa Tokei and comments of the book’s characters. That makes “Kamisuki Chohoki” absorbing and even entertaining. The article also provides full translation of “Precious Notes on Papermaking” into Russian language.

японская бумага, история бумаги, «Камисуки тёхоки», Кунисаки Дзихэ, Нива Токэй, период Эдо, эхон, Japanese paper, history of papermaking, “Kamisuki Chohoki”, Kunisaki Jihei, Niwa Tokei, Edo period, ehon

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