Becoming a Papermaker: Best Practices from Japan to the U.S.

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2015
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American Folklore Society
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Papermaking, with a history of over two thousand years, is one of the most impressive technologies of human history. Similar to digital technology today, the invention of paper caused massive shifts in the way that people thought, worked, communicated, and saw the world. However, the mechanization and industrialization of paper has squeezed out most hand papermaking practitioners. Like so many traditional crafts and art practices, papermaking traditions around the world have become extinct or are highly endangered. Because of my work in documenting and spreading awareness of Korean papermaking, I am sensitive to the overall state of paper arts, and am committed to papermaking education in the United States. Often we must leave home for discoveries that will help us improve conditions at home. In that spirit, I went to Japan for eight days in November 2014 to investigate how people become papermakers. Some methods were systemic while others happened more organically, but they all required a great deal of hard work and dedication to the craft. I hope that looking at best practices in Japan, whose hand papermaking tradition remains one of the strongest in the world, will offer support to American papermakers and artisans with their own succession models. I came to this research as a specialist in Korean papermaking. Though I understand the techniques and tools of the Japanese craft, I cannot profess Japanese language skills or deep familiarity with the culture. The state of the craft in Japan, though shaky, is less dire than in Korea, so my visit to Japan painted a more hopeful picture than I am accustomed to in my regular research. That said, I also believe that traditional handcrafts are in peril—not only in Asia, but around the world. Because I am also a papermaker, I included some technical information as it may be useful to American practitioners, as well as Japanese terms that are italicized at first appearance. Japanese names are rendered in the western tradition with surname last; all mistakes are my own.
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