Mino washi
Words, voices and images: Connecting to cultures around the world
"As an object, as material culture, Hon-minoshi is itself beautiful, its whiteness with its intertwined fibres, smooth, thin and strong".
It seems that all roads lead to Mino where the Nagara River flows. Mino steeped in ceramics, paper and light and some very beautiful Edo period houses.
For Andrea with her long connection with ceramic art in Japan, Mino means the skills and ancient traditions of making in clay, contemporary ceramics and her long connection to the International Ceramics Festival, Mino, Japan (Tajimi City), the important event of which Her Imperial Princess Mako is now honorary president.
For many artists around the world, Mino City means Mino washi and 1300 years of sophisticated paper making.In the Meiji and Taisho periods there were 4,700 papermakers, today there are thirty.
In the 1960s alarm bells started ringing and the remaining papermakers formed a preservation society to ensure the art of Mino washi making survived. Today the society is called The Association for the Preservation of Hon-minoshi. Important here is the handing down of papermaking skills to future generations and the idea of maintaining the very highest standards in the production of Mino Washi.
Hon-minoshi, designated an Important Intangible Cultural Property (Arts and Crafts), is the handmade paper produced by members of the Association who maintain the strict disciplines, the best materials and practices to ensure the highest standards of papermaking continue.
As an object, as material culture, Hon-minoshi is itself beautiful, its whiteness with its intertwined fibres, smooth, thin and strong. The paper is made using traditional equipment and processes, the inner bark of Kozo (Paper Mulberry) from Nasu, with its long fibres provides it strength, quality and beauty. Making Hon-minoshi can be arduous as the making process includes washing the fibres repeatedly in the cold clear waters of the Itadori River.
The process includes boiling the fibres, repeated cleaning, beating the fibres and then the final process of forming the paper sheets. Hon-minoshi sheets are formed by the maker by using both vertical and horizontal swing movements, this special movement creates very fine papers with interweaving fibres and as a result, great strength. The paper is then dried in the open on chestnut boards. The sun bleaches the paper naturally, the final touch in making this Important Intangible Cultural Property.
It seems like a world away and a long time ago that we spent a final day working with John Wolseley in Central Victoria, Australia, filming the completion of a major new painting. The new painting is indeed a thing of great beauty and at its foundation is of course the handmade paper of Japan.
So we travel from the chill of an Australian winter and back to the warmness and wetness of Japan in early summer. The cherry blossoms have now drifted away in the gentle wind and the forests are again lush green.
So it is with John's paper in mind we visit Mino City and the former residence of the Imaike family who were washi merchants.
There is tranquillity here in a hectic world and in its garden one of Japan’s 100 Sound Sceneries, the Suikinkutsu (water harp) plays its gentle tune.
For Andrea with her long connection with ceramic art in Japan, Mino means the skills and ancient traditions of making in clay, contemporary ceramics and her long connection to the International Ceramics Festival, Mino, Japan (Tajimi City), the important event of which Her Imperial Princess Mako is now honorary president.
For many artists around the world, Mino City means Mino washi and 1300 years of sophisticated paper making.In the Meiji and Taisho periods there were 4,700 papermakers, today there are thirty.
In the 1960s alarm bells started ringing and the remaining papermakers formed a preservation society to ensure the art of Mino washi making survived. Today the society is called The Association for the Preservation of Hon-minoshi. Important here is the handing down of papermaking skills to future generations and the idea of maintaining the very highest standards in the production of Mino Washi.
Hon-minoshi, designated an Important Intangible Cultural Property (Arts and Crafts), is the handmade paper produced by members of the Association who maintain the strict disciplines, the best materials and practices to ensure the highest standards of papermaking continue.
As an object, as material culture, Hon-minoshi is itself beautiful, its whiteness with its intertwined fibres, smooth, thin and strong. The paper is made using traditional equipment and processes, the inner bark of Kozo (Paper Mulberry) from Nasu, with its long fibres provides it strength, quality and beauty. Making Hon-minoshi can be arduous as the making process includes washing the fibres repeatedly in the cold clear waters of the Itadori River.
The process includes boiling the fibres, repeated cleaning, beating the fibres and then the final process of forming the paper sheets. Hon-minoshi sheets are formed by the maker by using both vertical and horizontal swing movements, this special movement creates very fine papers with interweaving fibres and as a result, great strength. The paper is then dried in the open on chestnut boards. The sun bleaches the paper naturally, the final touch in making this Important Intangible Cultural Property.
It seems like a world away and a long time ago that we spent a final day working with John Wolseley in Central Victoria, Australia, filming the completion of a major new painting. The new painting is indeed a thing of great beauty and at its foundation is of course the handmade paper of Japan.
So we travel from the chill of an Australian winter and back to the warmness and wetness of Japan in early summer. The cherry blossoms have now drifted away in the gentle wind and the forests are again lush green.
So it is with John's paper in mind we visit Mino City and the former residence of the Imaike family who were washi merchants.
There is tranquillity here in a hectic world and in its garden one of Japan’s 100 Sound Sceneries, the Suikinkutsu (water harp) plays its gentle tune.
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