Kurotani washi paper

An origin account connects papermaking in Kurotani with defeated Heike people who hid in the mountains and made paper for a living. The firmer ground for the present paper is the place itself: Kurotani-cho, Yashiro-cho, and surrounding Ayabe areas, where the Kurotani River, narrow valley land, cold winters, and sheet-drying sunlight shaped the rhythm of work. The continuity is measured in more than 800 years, but it still begins with water, bark, and hands.

Kozo is the main fiber, and in Kurotani it is also called kago. The plant grows for one year to about two to three meters before winter cutting; the cut stems are steamed for about three hours, stripped of bark, dried, and stored. Black bark and white bark are handled before soaking and boiling, so the finished sheet already carries field work, winter timing, and careful fiber preparation.

After soaking, white bark is boiled in an alkaline solution for about one and a half to two hours. Craftspeople clean dirt and flaws by hand in water, beat the fiber for about an hour, prepare tororo-aoi root mucilage as neri, and form the sheet with a sugeta. Board drying and sheet-by-sheet inspection complete the sequence; the long kozo fibers interlock through hand-forming, giving Kurotani washi its tear resistance and long keeping.

The paper’s strength appears in ordinary objects: lantern paper, umbrella paper, shoji, and wrapping all depend on a sheet that can take handling. Near Kyoto, Kurotani washi also served kimono-related work through kimono trade labels, shibugami, and tatou paper. In the Taisho era, its toughness led to use for hardtack bags, a plain object that says much about the sheet’s practical role.

When Kurotani washi moves into architecture and ceremony, the same durable sheet carries a different kind of work. It has been used for Nijo Castle sliding panels, lanterns at Tenrikyo headquarters, and paper camellias dyed by Sarasa Yoshioka for Todaiji Nigatsudo’s Omizutori. Calligraphers and painters have used it too, and overseas museums including the Louvre have used it as restoration paper.

At Kurotani Washi Kaikan in Kurotani-cho Higashitani, Ayabe, the craft is visible through exhibits, hand-papermaking experiences, and guided workshop visits. The experiences and guided visits are reservation-based, with listed operating days between March and November. Seeing the tools and movements in the same district makes the steps from kozo bark to board-dried sheet easier to grasp.

Kurotani Sohu carries the paper into cloth. Hand-formed Kurotani washi becomes paper thread for the weft, silk is used for the warp, and the cloth is woven with karami-ori and dyed with Kyoto kanoko shibori. The uneven fullness of paper thread gives the fabric softness, moisture control, and warmth, extending the same kozo fiber from shoji and wrapping into scarves and other woven objects.