How I Made my Book③ Making Washi Paper from Kozo Plant

The day after my last day of work, I headed to “Warabeeland” in Mino, Gifu Prefecture to make washi (Japanese paper) for my book cover. On the way, I shared the book schedule with Katoh-san and Nakagawa-san.

Schedule:
7/11-12 Making washi cover
7/13 Receive paper + mentsuke
7/13-15 Laser printing
7/15 Japanese correction
7/16 mentsuke for risograph printing
7/17 printing day at Neutral Colors
7/22 book binding

At a glance, I was drawn to the hard and crisp charcoal washi made with kozo plants, and decided to use it for the back cover. At that time, I felt it was too dark for front cover.

I still could not decide on the cover... River time before it gets dark!

Dinner with Senda-san, his wife, Yoshi-san and his five children.

“Isn’t it good to document the process of how you made the book?” asked Senda-san.

“Yeah! I’m planning to do it.”

“I have no idea how a book is made. I would love to read the story of someone making a book for the first time with absolute no experience!”

“Yes. I will document it when it’s all finished.”

“You should document it now. After it’s finished, your emotions will be distanced.”

At night, I still couldn’t decide on the cover and colour. When I was debating, Senda-san said, “How about improvisation?” “Oh!! That’s great!” Improvisation like music, the mood in the morning, like raga. How the cover will turn out, I will find out tomorrow.

(Left) The room next door is made out of washi
(Right) The bar on the first floor. The floor and chairs are also washi?!

The next morning.

Mino is blessed with clear water.

Add water into the tank.

“Kozo” is the material for washi. Kozo becomes shirokawa when it’s steamed.

“Chiritori” is to take out the non-fiber elements when they are eluted in alkaline.  

Add the kozo plants into the tank.

Add the liquid of “tororo”, which acts as glue.

Mix well in a circular motion. Yosha!

flow・cycle・chaos

After colouring, you can add another layer of textured pattern with water droplets.

Example - Suzuki-san's book

Charcoal paper

Drying

Right before I left, I asked Senda-san “when the papers are dried, the colours will deepen right?”

“No, it will only get lighter than now.”

“What??????? Apart from tororo, what else can I use at home?

“Okra” is like the cousin of tororo.  

It began to rain heavily right before I headed out. Yoshi-san drove me to the station.
Thank you!

The vibrant colours that I imagined all day long vanished. I planned to fix my writings on the bus ride from Nagoya to Tokyo, but I was thinking “I should've used this colour, I should've done this or that”, I was powerless like a flat tire.

“You’re making your book at a very deep place”, said Senda-san.

“Nakagawa-san too? Super deep!”

Next Chapter: How I made my book④
Layout, Imposition, Ordering Paper