Why world's thinnest ‘washi' paper is a savior for museums

Asahi Shimbun

5 hours ago

Hiroyoshi Chinzei, president of Hidakawashi Co., which produces what is reputed to be the world's thinnest 'washi' traditional paper. Photo taken in Hidaka, Kochi Prefecture, on June 11 (Ryuta Kameoka)
HIDAKA, Kochi Prefecture--A small manufacturer of Japanese paper here has won a global following by producing what is reputed to be the world's thinnest traditional washi paper.
With a thickness of just 0.02 millimeter, the paper is translucent. It is also incredibly light, making it ideal to repair old documents and books, even works of art.
The company has become a savior for libraries, museums and galleries desperate to protect and preserve their treasures.
Made from 'kozo,' a type of paper mulberry tree native to Asia, a single sheet of the ultrathin washi measuring 1 square meter weighs a mere 2 grams.
'We are in the era of digital transformation, but the importance of original written works can never be overlooked,' said the company's president, Hiroyoshi Chinzei, 56.
Hidakawashi Co. was founded in Kochi in 1949 by Chinzei's great-grandfather using techniques for 'Tengujoshi,' another type of thin washi from Gifu Prefecture.
The company has a dozen or so employees and chalks up around 120 million yen ($818,000) in annual sales. It moved to Hidaka in 1967.
According to Chinzei, Hidakawashi initially won renown in 2009 after it developed the special washi using a machine introduced with subsidies from the central government.
The same result would be difficult to achieve by hand, the traditional washi making method passed down in Japan for centuries.
Hidakawashi was flooded with requests for consultation from the National Archives of Japan, researchers and others following a writeup by the Japan Society for the Conservation of Cultural Property about the paper used in repairing the Ungyo statue at the Hozomon gate of Sensoji temple in Tokyo.
In the 2010s, it developed another ultrathin paper, which is pale yellow, in response to calls from museums and libraries desperate to repair pages in books that had become discolored or brittle.
The paper with lighter weight of 1.6 grams per square meter is used in repairs of old masterpieces, and even Noh wardrobes. The primary emphasis is on cultural artifacts produced in and before the Edo Period (1603-1867).
The paper is also used in repairs of old official documents and books.
'Modern paper is acidic, which makes the ink dry faster. It allows documents to be printed quickly and in quantity, but the paper fibers eventually break down because of the acid,' Chinzei explained. 'Modern paper is at such risk.'
The company has also set its sights on expanding overseas.
Chinzei traveled to China and the Philippines, as well as countries in Europe, the United States and Brazil, to drum up business.
That led to Harvard University contacting the company in 2019 or thereabouts for help to preserve its original architectural drawings of Yoyogi National Stadium in the capital designed by Kenzo Tange for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The drawings had turned yellow and brittle.
Another call came from the Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar, Germany.
The World Heritage site, for which the German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once served as director, was gutted by a fire in 2004.
Numerous books and materials were lost. Others were partially burned and their remaining pages were distorted due to heat. But the works were restored with washi from Hidakawashi.
'I was overwhelmed with emotion, thinking how our washi was being useful in faraway places,' Chinzei said.
Hidakawashi now does business in more than 30 countries and regions.
Sales for repair projects account for about 40 percent of its dealings, 90 percent of which originate overseas.
'My hope is that we can increase demand for use other than repairs, such as art and interior design,' Chinzei said.