Japanese washi, the handmade paper long woven into the architecture, religion, and daily life of Japan, traces its origins to a single documented moment: the arrival of Chinese papermaking methods in 610, carried by the Korean Buddhist priest Doncho. From that introduction, a distinctly Japanese craft evolved — the Nagashizuki method — in which mulberry fibers are separated, soaked in clear river water, and filtered through a bamboo screen with the help of a viscous formation aid. The result is a paper durable and flexible enough to serve sliding doors and sacred scrolls, and versatile enough that a Japanese textile maker recently turned it into reusable face masks.
The Enduring Craft of Washi: An Introduction
The word "washi" identifies paper made by hand in Japan from long plant fibers, principally those of the paper mulberry plant. According to UNESCO, which inscribed the craftsmanship of traditional Japanese hand-made paper on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2025, the practice involves separating the fibers, soaking them in clear river water to thicken, and filtering them through a bamboo screen. That deceptively simple sequence, refined over thirteen centuries, is what distinguishes washi as a craft rather than an industry.
What makes the tradition especially rich is its variability. As PIGMENT TOKYO, an art-supply house in Tokyo, observes, washi made from the same raw materials varies greatly in texture and appearance depending on the region of production and the techniques used. A Japanese saying cited by the shop holds that "there are as many types of washi as there are papermakers." The paper is thus not a single product but a family of materials, each shaped by local water, local hands, and inherited method.
