Paper as art
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“Mino washi paper was used in the Nara era (710-794) for the transcription of sutras”. Peter Hylands
Back in Mino and we work with traditional Japanese papermaker, Takeshi Kano. The creative cowboy films team clap when Takeshi-san finishes his morning’s work. You get the feeling he deserves the spontaneous applause.
Here paper is art following strict traditions and process developed over 1300 years of paper making. The paper is important to conservators, artists and makers and is just a beautiful thing to have and to hold as an object, as a possession and as art. What is so beautiful about these Japanese papers is that they mature with age, the older papers give crisp perfection to the artist's brush.
I ask Takeshi-san some questions about his life as a dedicated craftsman and papermaker.
Originally I had wanted to have some skills and it was a strong thought as well as a strong admiration for the Mino washi craftsmen and I felt I would like to live as a craftsman working with my own hands. I had visited the craftsmen in Mino City where I saw these wonderful traditions of the hand made papermaking and it was still thriving. I could see it with my own eyes and with such a strong admiration I then started to learn the process of sieving from the craftsmen.
I first worked as staff member of the Japanese Paper Centre in Mino City where the visitors are taught some of the techniques of paper making and have the experience of sieving. Then I really wanted to be the proper craftsmen and then a local craftsman asked me to be his assistant and that is how I formally learnt to make paper. The time was about two years to learn from him and after that I ask the master if I could do it independently at my own house and that is where I have my studio.
In the beginning my paper did not sell so I had to do other odd jobs so I could keep doing the paper sieving on the side. And gradually the person who had taught me the skills was able to pass on some of the jobs so therefore more people were using the paper that I made.
Making this paper is not something you can do by yourself alone. First there is the raw material kozo. So there are the people who cultivate kozo. Then there are the toolmakers that make the equipment for paper sieving and then we sieve the paper.
Then there are the people who want to use the paper that we made. These linkages between people is something precious that needs to be valued and at present the remaining techniques can continue on for the next twenty to thirty years and to the next generation in the correct way and to ensure our generation do not allow the skills to disappear.
When I said I would like to be a papermaker my mother and grandmother were against it. My grandmother was born into a family that was doing the papermaking. My mother also came from the tradition but it stopped in her family after she was born. They were all against me doing something the others had stopped but now my mother is very understanding and cooperates to help me.
At one time papermaking was seen as very hard work but once I had done this work I could see it was not something I did not like doing or would want to quit. It happened to me and inside me, I could accept that this is my work and that was the great encouragement for me to continue, therefore I like doing my work.
Our warm thanks to Gifu Prefecture office and staff.
Here paper is art following strict traditions and process developed over 1300 years of paper making. The paper is important to conservators, artists and makers and is just a beautiful thing to have and to hold as an object, as a possession and as art. What is so beautiful about these Japanese papers is that they mature with age, the older papers give crisp perfection to the artist's brush.
I ask Takeshi-san some questions about his life as a dedicated craftsman and papermaker.
Originally I had wanted to have some skills and it was a strong thought as well as a strong admiration for the Mino washi craftsmen and I felt I would like to live as a craftsman working with my own hands. I had visited the craftsmen in Mino City where I saw these wonderful traditions of the hand made papermaking and it was still thriving. I could see it with my own eyes and with such a strong admiration I then started to learn the process of sieving from the craftsmen.
I first worked as staff member of the Japanese Paper Centre in Mino City where the visitors are taught some of the techniques of paper making and have the experience of sieving. Then I really wanted to be the proper craftsmen and then a local craftsman asked me to be his assistant and that is how I formally learnt to make paper. The time was about two years to learn from him and after that I ask the master if I could do it independently at my own house and that is where I have my studio.
In the beginning my paper did not sell so I had to do other odd jobs so I could keep doing the paper sieving on the side. And gradually the person who had taught me the skills was able to pass on some of the jobs so therefore more people were using the paper that I made.
Making this paper is not something you can do by yourself alone. First there is the raw material kozo. So there are the people who cultivate kozo. Then there are the toolmakers that make the equipment for paper sieving and then we sieve the paper.
Then there are the people who want to use the paper that we made. These linkages between people is something precious that needs to be valued and at present the remaining techniques can continue on for the next twenty to thirty years and to the next generation in the correct way and to ensure our generation do not allow the skills to disappear.
When I said I would like to be a papermaker my mother and grandmother were against it. My grandmother was born into a family that was doing the papermaking. My mother also came from the tradition but it stopped in her family after she was born. They were all against me doing something the others had stopped but now my mother is very understanding and cooperates to help me.
At one time papermaking was seen as very hard work but once I had done this work I could see it was not something I did not like doing or would want to quit. It happened to me and inside me, I could accept that this is my work and that was the great encouragement for me to continue, therefore I like doing my work.
Our warm thanks to Gifu Prefecture office and staff.
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