KUROTANI WASHI COOPERATIVE GROUP｜KUROTANI HANDMADE WASHI

Brand

Bringing Traditional Handmade Washi into Daily Life

KUROTANI WASHI COOPERATIVE GROUP

• 1996
• KUROTANI HANDMADE WASHI
• Shinji Hayashi and others

History

Paper Making to Support a Lifestyle in a Remote Region

The Kurotani area, where Kurotani washi is produced, is a village along the Kurotani River, which flows along the border between the cities of Ayabe and Maizuru in Kyoto Prefecture.

Surrounded by mountains and with a cool, clear river running through it, the area is an ideal place for paper making, with high-quality kozo (paper mulberry) trees growing wild.

More than 800 years ago, a village was established as a hideout of the Heike clan, and the residents began papermaking to earn a living, which is believed to be the beginning of washi making in Kurotani.

Since there was little flat land and winters were extremely cold and unsuitable for agriculture, papermaking was the only livelihood.

In ancient times, paper was made for daily necessities such as shoji screens and umbrellas, but during the Edo period, it became an important industry that supported the finances of the Yamaga clan as it gradually developed.

As the Yamaga clan mastered more sophisticated techniques, demand for paper for tatami, price tags, and cocoon bags used in silkworm cultivation grew dramatically.

It was also recognized by the government as "the strongest paper in Japan" and was used for portable bread bags.

Later, as industry became mechanized, handmade work disappeared rapidly, but Kurotani continues to make washi using the traditional handmade techniques.

Characteristic

Beautifully shining washi paper made by skilled craftsmanship

Kurotani Washi is a rare craft that focuses on pure handmade paper.

Using high-quality kozo (paper mulberry) as raw material, craftsmen carefully make each sheet of washi one by one in a clean and abundant water source.

The water drawn from the Kurotani River is cold, and the work is especially hard in winter, but by carefully sifting the paper in clear water to remove even the smallest impurities results in exceptionally beautiful washi.

Kurotani washi is characterized by its strength, tear resistance, and longevity.

Because it is suitable for long-term preservation, it has been used for lanterns, umbrellas, shoji screens, and wrapping paper.

Kurotani washi has been used for many cultural assets, including the shoji screens of Nijo Castle, which was registered as a World Heritage Site, and was designated as an intangible cultural asset by the Kyoto Prefectural Government in 1983.

Kurotani Washi is also highly regarded overseas, and has been used as restoration paper by the Louvre Museum in France and other museums, as well as by artists.

The book Paper Milling Village Kurotani (by Hajime Nakamura), produced with Kurotani Washi, won the Grand Prix for "The Most Beautiful Book in the World" at the World Book Exhibition held in Germany in 1972.

For Customers

A Desire to Convey the Feelings that Reside in Washi

We want to offer Kurotani Washi, which has been nurtured over a long history, to as many people as possible.

Our goal is to make genuine handmade washi, carefully produced one by one in the nature-rich Satoyama near the capital of Kyoto, that can be used in people's daily lives.

The delicate sensibility of the Japanese people resides in this washi, and it reflects their various thoughts and feelings.

In order to pass on these feelings 100 years into the future, the paper must be not only beautiful but also durable and long-lasting.

In recent years, it has become common practice to make washi by purchasing inexpensive kozo (paper mulberry) and mass-producing it by machine.

This may be effective in getting people to adopt washi on a daily basis, but we can say that looking back to our origins and building on tradition step by step is what makes the best paper.

We are proud to present the tradition of papermaking and the thoughts that go into it.

We hope you will take our products in your hands and see our passion for yourself.

Award

1972 World Book Exhibition "The Most Beautiful Book in the World" Grand Prix awarded

1983 Designated as an Intangible Cultural Asset by Kyoto Prefecture

2009 Selected for use in a Christmas card sent overseas by the Japanese Imperial Family