SHIFU: A HANDWOVEN TEXTILE OF JAPAN DOROTHY MILLER

Fibers from plants grown in Japan are used in making handmade Japanese paper, ; kozo (paper mulberry, Broussonetia genus) mit- suinata (Edgeworthis papyrifer, Sieb et Zucc.) and gampi (diplomorpha skiklokiana, Fr. et Sev.). (Hughes, pp. 76-80). A variety of the paper mulberry grown in Northern Japan, (Broussonetia kajinoki, Sieb.) pro­ vides the fine fibers used in making shifu. The Gampi plant is wild and is not so readily available in Japan today. Gampi paper is very strong and smooth but, because of the decrease in its availability and its expense, it is not used today for shifu. Mitsumata is a plant which is cultivated in Japan. Plants can be bought in local nurseries. The paper is strong and smooth and those which I have seen dyed with vegetable dyes have been soft and rich in tone. This paper, too, is expensive and less available. Kozo paper, still made in the traditional manner, is now used for shifu. At present, I have found that kozo paper for shifu (shifugami, Jap.) is made by paper makers in the cooperative at Kurotani, in the Tamba area, and at the Tadao Endo paper making workshop near Sendai, in the Tohoku area of Japan. The kozo is harvested after the leaves drop in the fall. The branches are cut and brought to the paper makers in the villages to be prepared for the vat. (Mies Illustration 1). In Kurotani, where I learned to make paper the Japanese way, most of the homes are involved in the paper making process. A paved high­ way has replaced the country road. It is not unusual to see a worker cutting wood on weekends, having worked all week in one of the larger cities' businesses or at the shipyards off the coast of the Sea of Japan. A cooperative under Gen Nakamura takes orders for shifu paper, and one or another of the paper makers of the village fills the order. Since Kurotani kozo paper is known for its strength and purity, it is sought af­ ter by others than shifu weavers; by temples for their writings and repair of old books, by Japanese home owners for their fusuma (paper sliding doors) [1], and for the shoji, the wooden sliding doors with sectioned areas covered with paper. Others who use Kurotani paper are the shops selling paper to calligraphic artists and for the backing for kakemonos and hanga, the artistic works of calligraphic and block print artists.

ARS TEXTRINA 4 (1985), pp. 43-66 Preparation of the fibers for paper.

After the branches are brought to the paper makers, they are put through many processes before being made into paper. In Kurotani, the bark is stripped off and the wood is steamed. Members of the family strip off the bark, and put the fibers in the stream of running water which runs through the village. (Mies Illustration 2). In Kurotani, I saw an old man stomping on the fibers, rubbing them over the stones to remove more of the bark and to soften the fibers. (Mies Illustration 3). Again the fibers are boiled in a cauldron of water with caustic soda, the steam kept in by a large woven straw cover. After this, the women take the fibers and soak them in large basins of water, picking out bits of bark which might be left on the fibers. (Mies Illustration 4). This is done two or three times, depending on the purity of the paper wanted. The fibers are then beaten in a tub with a stomper, a wooden pole with wooden battens attached to the bottom. The stompers that I saw were run by electricity, and a cam-attached toe rod turned the stomper right and left to beat the fibers evenly. This is a crucial step and some paper makers still prefer hand-beating over electrical-beating, but, generally, electrical-beating has taken the place of the hand-beating of former times. In the Shiroishi workshop, the fibers are then soaked. The is put in the paper making vat and beaten with a large stick and a rake-like frame, both of which separate the fibers in the vat and aerate them. Aeration is important so that the fibers will distribute evenly on the bamboo screens on which the paper is made. To help with the distribution of the fibers in the vat, a viscous sub­ stance, called neri, is used in the vat. The substance used at both paper-making workshops is tororo-aoi (Abelmoschus manihot, Medicus), a plant grown in the gardens of the paper makers. The root of the plant is crushed, put in a bag and is allowed to ooze out into a bucket. A portion of this liquid is put into the vat, along with the fibers, and it is beaten until the right consistency is reached. I can still hear the slush- o-slosh, slush-o-slosh of the paper maker beating the pulp over and over again. One of the women I visited, while attending a workshop in the village in 1983, and whom I saw again during a cold snowy visit in 1984, was Mrs. Nishino of Oku-Kurotani. Mrs. Nishino had a small shed in front of her home. One room was for the families' washing machine and storage of household equipment. The other, no more than eight feet by ten feet in size, was the paper-making shed. The paper-making vat was under a sliding window which looked down a small walkway to the narrow village street.

44 Mrs. Nishino stood in a pit with a charcoal burner at her side. On top of the burner, there was a teakettle of water slowly simmering. Mrs. Nishino warmed her hands over the steam, in between pulling sheets from the screen, on which she made her paper. The rhythm of making a sheet of paper intrigued me and I stayed and photographed her, and then just watched. With a deft movement, she dipped her mold with the screen into the vat, picking up just enough of the pulp and water to let it flow over the surface of the screen. At the end of her short, quick movements to evenly distribute the fibers, she nipped off the extra pulp into the vat and let the screen in the mold sit on boards extended over the vat, to drip. When sufficient liquid had drained off, she took the screen from the mold and let it stand, on end, on a ledge against the wall. (Photo 1). Behind her was a post of papers, one paper laid on top of another. She picked up another screen, put it in the mold and made another sheet of paper. While that sheet was draining, she took the first screen and deftly placed it on top of the post of papers to her rear. As she rolled the screen over the pile of papers, she released the newly made sheet of paper from the screen, where it was held by the suction of the other papers on the screen, by pressing gently at the edge of the paper. Then, pulling from the side where she first laid the paper on the post, she gently lifted the screen off the newly made sheet of paper. This process was repeated numerous times until she had used all of the pulp. (Mies Illustration 5). At night Mrs. Nishino put the screen, with a cloth over the post, and let it drip its excess water out naturally. The next day, with the help of another person, she moved the heavy post of papers, still filled with water, under a press. There, she put a wood board cover over the post, adjusted some large beams on top and pressed down, by turning a large screw handle on the metal bars which fitted on top of the beams. Periodically, she would give the handle another turn, just enough to release the water without applying enough pressure to harm the paper. (Mies Illustration 6). As I looked out of her window, I could see a row of boards with newly made paper drying in the sun. I climbed up a small pathway in the snow and watched another man removing the papers, one by one from the post, laying them on a smooth board and brushing oxit the air bubbles with a soft bristled brush made for that purpose. The boards were put out in the sun and were left until the papers were thoroughly dry. (Mies Illustration 7). Then they were removed one by one by carefully lifting a comer and piling them one on another to be taken, another day, to the cooperative to be sold. The second year when I returned I saw Mrs. Nishino working steadily,

45 no matter that the snow was piled six feet deep around her home and workshop. The water in the vat was very cold and her hands were very red. She had been doing this for years. I had been told that few of the young people in the village cared for this labor and were not making paper. But the middle aged women such as Mrs. Nishino and the older men and women who worked in the village devoted much of their time to paper making. In Mr. Endo's workshop, the process was much the same. It was another blustery, windy, snowy day that we visited his workshop. He was making a special paper called Kamiko, a paper used for Buddhist priest's robes. The paper is thick and treated with neri made from konyaku, a gelatinous substance. The paper, after it is dried, is rubbed between the fingers to be softened. I had done some of this softening during a lull in instruction at the Kurotani workshop. This paper was also made in a kozo vat. Mr. Endo, knowing that I was interested in making paper for shifu, showed me the fine points of doing so. After dipping the mold with the bamboo screen into the vat. the mold is shaken only from top to bottom, thus distributing the fibers vertically on the screen. This makes it easier to cut the fibers, distributes them so the grain is laid on the line on which the paper is going to be cut. In Mr. Endo's small museum attached to the workshop, there were examples of cloth made from paper, robes of Kamiko, hats and sword covers and even zoris woven of paper. It was said that in times past, runners would carry secret messages written on the paper woven into the zoris. The paper makers were very cognizant of the needs of the shifu weavers and though the demand was small they made every effort to make a paper suitable for their needs.

Preparation of shifu paper for spinning and weaving.

A sheet of paper is folded in half, against the grain of the paper. The grain on kozo paper is the way the fibers are aligned on the screen during the making of the sheet. The fibers flow from the top to the bottom of the screen. The selvedge is placed one inch over the edge of the cutting board. The fold is at the top of the board. One weaver, Mrs. Sato, uses a tool which has a T square with a bar which fits over the edge holding down the paper. The selvedge is away from her. (Photo 2). The cutting tools are varied. Mrs. Sato uses a special knife with a long sharp cutting edge on the end. Mrs. Sakurai, another weaver, uses an exacto knife with a thin elongated blade. Holding the blade so that the cutting edge is flat against the paper, she draws the knife down,

46 cutting from the bottom edge to the fold. After cutting, the paper is opened and laid in a slightly damp towel, one sheet on top of another. The towel is folded over the cut papers and left to absorb the moisture overnight. All the weavers soften the paper, either rolling it over a stone or on a concrete block. They also roll it between the hands, putting a slight twist into the strand. The softening process is done with gentle movements and when it is done, the paper, when opened, springs back to one half of its width. (Photo 2). It is at this point that the paper selvedges are torn, to form a con­ tinuous strand of paper. At every other cut, the weavers tear the paper through the selvedge, at the top. The thumb holds the paper and a small piece above the thumb is nipped off. The remaining paper under the thumb is opened to make a long strip of paper, and the excess paper is folded on itself. Another fold is made, as the paper is turned, to make a flat joint and the joint is twisted between the fingers to hold the fold together. This is repeated across the top selvedge of paper, tearing at every other cut, nipping off the excess and folding up on itself and over to form a continuous paper thread. (Photo 4). The lower edge now has to be torn. By starting at the first cut, tearing the selvedge, one can see how a long length of cut paper makes one continuous strand. Mrs. Sakurai lets this thread fall into a basket, layering round and round the cut paper. Again this tearing and folding is repeated at every other cut on the bottom. All shifu weavers cut the paper to their own needs. Mrs. Kawaguchi from the Tamba area had prepared a warp of handspun cotton. She gets her cotton from Korea in cotton balls and separates the seeds with a hand cotton gin. Using a bow with a taut string, she separated the cotton fibers by allowing the string to beat against the fibers, much the way it was done in old times. Her cotton gin, with wooden gears, was turned by hand and the seeds fell to one side leaving pure white cotton on the other. After the cotton was beaten, it was spun on the ito guruma, the Japanese spinning wheel. This wheel is much like the walking wheel of American colonial times, only it sits flat on the floor. The spinner kneels before the wheel turning the wheel with the right hand and allowing the fibers to come off the spindle, to be spun from the left hand. The wheel is made of bamboo strips pegged together by small bamboo pins. (Photo 4). All the women used the ito gnruma to twist the paper. They attached the end of the paper to a quill or bobbin which was put on the spindle. (Photo 5). The spinner turned the wheel slowly, allowing the twist to travel up to the spinners fingers on the cut paper. After a certain amount

47 of twist was achieved, the wheel was given another turn or two and then the thread was allowed to roll up on the bobbin. When finished, the bobbin was removed and set aside to be later wound on a warping spool or to be put into a shuttle to be used as weft. Mrs. Sakurai and Mrs. Sato cut their paper narrower for their woven cloth. Mrs. Sakurai uses both Z and S twist, one in white and one in blue, to achieve a kasuri like thread when plied together.

Warp set up.

Since a plain tabby weave was used to weave the fabric, a warp was set up on the Japanese loom, the hatabata (a Western style counterbalanced floor loom). The width of the fabric followed Japanese tradition, being the width of cloth for a kimono or obi. (Approximately 13 inches - 1 ippan, Jap.). The Japanese borrowed the Western style counterbalanced loom de­ sign from the Portugese, who brought their rug looms to Japan in the 17th century. The Japanese call this loom the hatabata. They use this loom with two harnesses in weaving shifu. The heddles are made with two loops intertwined. The loops are separated, when warping is done, and the warp thread is put in the eye of the two loops. Silk thread is used for the heddles. Each weaver's warp is set according to her needs. The sett varies from thirty ends per inch up to sixty ends per inch. Generally, a simple tabby weave is used for the fabric, though block and basket weaves are often set up. Most of the design is achieved by us­ ing warp stripes and color. Each weaver uses natural indigo (polygonum tinctorium from Shikoku island) for dyeing the paper thread. Cochineal, madder and plants which give yellow, and are indigenous to Japan, are also used [2]. The shifu thread is strong enough when spun to withstand dipping in the vats, so long as no pressure is put on the strands while wet. (Photo 7). The haoris (a short coat worn over a kimono), the obis (a wide belt wound around the waist of the kimono), and the scarves, which the weavers make, can not be distinguished by sight from kimonos made of cotton or silk. Some weavers use silk warps, others use cotton. A haori used to be considered a luxury garment, when made of silk and paper. Today it is very special but it can also be woven in cotton and paper, to be used over the blue and white kasuri kimono favored by the farmers. The fabric is slightly stiffer than an all cotton or cotton and silk fabric, but for the purpose intended, the stiffness is not a problem. For finishing the fabric, a light starch of konyaku paste is brushed over the fabric and this is removed with the soil, when dirty, by wiping with

48 a damp rag. Mrs. Sakurai stated that her fabrics could be hand washed. A Japanese kimono is taken apart and each length is washed separately. The paper which has been twisted and woven retains its strength when dry. During World War II, when fibers were not imported to Japan and there was a dearth of material to use for woven garments, the women would use this method of cutting up paper, some from , some from the temple paper offerings, and spin and weave the paper for farmer's coats. They used indigo dyed weft thread, which had been pulled from worn garments, to be rewoven. Such a garment was on ex­ hibit at the Cynthia Shaver gallery in San Francisco in 1983. A narrow obi in the author's possession has the paper weft plyed with a silk thread, the paper being dyed blue for wide weft stripes. Another piece in the collection is a tea ceremony carpet, with various color weft stripes of tan and madder red. The weft in this carpet is also paper and the warp is silk and cotton. The carpet was used in the formal tea ceremony. It was explained that water would not harm such a carpet.

Contemporary use of Shifu.

During my first stay to Kurotani, I had the opportunity to meet Mrs. Kawaguchi, the wife of a buddhist priest who had her workshop on the second story of their home, behind the temple, high on the mountain near the town of Ayabe, in the Tamba region. Mrs. Kawaguchi was known for her weaving of shifu. Mrs. Tazuko Sato, an experienced weaver living in Fukushima, Japan demonstrated the technique of cutting, softening and spinning of pa­ per in her new Japanese home, in February, 1984 on a cold snowy day. She spun the paper on the ito guruma, the Japanese spinning wheel. Her home was furnished with articles of folk art made by folk artists throughout the country. Her own natural indigo blue dyed paper wo­ ven textiles adorned the fusuma doors, the sliding doors which separate two Japanese rooms. The handles on the doors were ceramic, made in Okinawa and decorated with the red and green glaze typical of the pot­ teries of Okinawa. Mrs. Sato and her husband had many old pieces of armor inherited from their families which were made of paper and were lacquered black. Mrs. Sadako Sakurai had an exhibition of her work in Seattle, Wash­ ington, in 1983 and showed her finely woven shifu in Florida in February, 1985. Mrs. Sakurai uses both paper warp and weft for her woven tex­ tiles, as well as silk and cotton for warp with paper weft. (Photo 8). Mrs. Sakurai also showed me the process of cutting paper for shifu and

49 the technique of spinning the paper during my winter visit in 1984. In her home were hanks of spun paper, carefully dyed in dyes of madder and indigo. My experiments have involved cutting of newspaper and dress pat­ tern paper, as well as shifu papers which I purchased in Japan. The newspaper was woven on a twelve harness plaid twill warp of wool, left over from a scarf project I had done. The sample has been handled continuously in workshops and at lectures and the sample remains soft and supple. One can see bits of type where the weft shows. The piece has not been washed and I would be reluctant to do so, in fear that the print would run. I also made a sample on an indigo cotton warp of spun paper. The fabric is slightly stiff but beautiful, in that the colors of the printed paper that I used give a texture to the piece, and the plain stripes of purchased, vegetable dyed papers from a paper maker in Kurashiki, Japan, give soft contrast to the texture of the piece. My own indigo dyed shifu paper is interspersed. The indigo dyed paper is soft and malleable and the Japanese women were interested in the texture and the color of the paper. In workshops which I give, the students have come up with interesting samples of paper used as weft. Pattern paper is especially strong, is good for use by a beginner and the woven fabric is useable. The potential of this technique is just being tapped. Fabrics, hang­ ings and possibly baskets using these spun paper fibers could be an addition to the textile creations of the future. I appreciate the efforts of the Japanese weavers and paper makers for their inventiveness and creativeness in using paper in so many different ways. REFERENCES

1. Kiyoyuki Nishihara, Fnsuma, a sliding partition made of a wooden lattice framework covered with paper or cloth, in "Japanese Houses", translated by Richard L. Gage, Japan Publications, Inc., 1967, p. 271. 2. Dorothy Miller, "Indigo from Seed to Dye", Indigo Press, Aptos, CA 95003, 1982. 3. Dorothy Miller, Hanaori: an Okinawan Brocaded Textile, photo of hatabata on page 176, Ars Textrina 1 (1983). 4. Dorothy Miller, Shifu: a handwoven paper textile, Hand-woven May/June (1985), Interweave Press.

50 BIBLIOGRAPHY Sukey Hughes, "Washi", The most complete coverage of paper and paper making studios in Japan, Kodansha, International, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, 1973. Kunisaki Jihei, "Kamisuki Chohoidi, A Handy Guide to ", After the Japanese edition of 1798, with translation by Charles E. Hamilton, The Book Arts Club, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, CA, 1948. Margaret Sahlstrand, Paper Clothing, East and West, An article on the work of Mrs. Sadako Sakurai, a shifu weaver in Japan, as well as a contemporary expression of pa,per clothing, Fiberarts March/April (1984). Shifu and Kamiko, [A treatise on paper and paper woven textiles], Senshoku to Seikatsu [Textiles in Living] 80 (Autumn 1980), This issue is devoted to crafts­ men who make paper for Kamiko, a strong, starch treated paper, crushed to soften and used for short jackets (haori), and for Buddhist priest's robes. Miyako lesake, a modern day clothing designer, uses Kamiko for his garments. Though in Japanese the pictures are self explanatory. The colored photos of vegetable dyed papers used in Shifu are very interesting.

Mies' illuetrations. . Mary Dan Mies of Sun City, Arizona, is a sketcher and water colorist, and has been a weaver and spinner. Mary Dan visited Kurotani in 1979 and made these sketches, which she has given me permission to use here.

Photos: By Dorothy Miller

51 Photograph 1 Mrs. Nishino placing mold with freshly made sheet of paper on screen on a shelf to dry. Mrs. Nishino's workshop

52 Illustration 1 Harvesting kozo

53 Illustration 2 Washing kozo in the stream picking off bits of bark

54 Illustration 3 Steaming kozo

55 Illustration 4 Washing kozo in vats outside of paper making workshop and picking out bits of bark and chiri after steaming

56 Illustration 5 Screen and mold, a post of paper and the bamboo screen on top of a post of paper Illustration 6 Pressing the water out of a post of paper

58 Illustration 7 Drying paper on boards

59 Photograph 2 Mrs. Sato cutting paper from selvedge to fold Photograph 3 Mrs. Sato's cut paper softened on a stone ready to be spun UP*

Photograph A Mrs. Sato separating and nipping off selvedge paper

62 Photograph 5 Mrs. Kawaguchi spinning cotton for warp. This is the ito gnruma, or Japanese spinning wheel on which the cut paper is twisted or spun Photograph 6 The bobbin on which paper is spun. Note twisted nub on the paper being twisted in spinning Photograph 7 Mrs. Sato's spun paper indigo dyed. Surface of the stone on which paper is rubbed to soften

65 Photograph 8 Mrs. Sakurai's paper woven textile. The blocks are approximately three inch square and the color of the piece is indigo blue and white

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