Traditional craft
Etchu Washi
越中和紙
Handmade paper from three villages in Toyama, from over 100 dyed papers to pure kozo paper used to restore Kyoto's Katsura Imperial Villa.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 9 June 1988
- Type
- Washi paper
- Region
- Chubu
- Official name in Japanese
- 越中和紙
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 下新川郡朝日町、富山市、南砺市
Three paper villages
Etchu Washi comes from three areas: Yatsuo, Gokayama and Birudan. They make shoji paper, hanshi, lantern paper, papers for calligraphy, painting and printmaking, and more than 100 kinds of dyed paper. Tough kozo paper is also stencil-dyed into goods sold across Japan. In Google Maps 五箇山 (opens in a new tab), famous for its gassho-zukuri farmhouses, one farm family still makes pure kozo paper used to restore temples and cultural treasures such as Katsura Imperial Villa. It is made in Asahi, Toyama city and Nanto in Toyama.
Snow-bleached kozo
- Kozo is boiled, beaten and pounded into fibre, as in other paper areas.
- For shoin paper, restoration paper and lantern paper, the kozo is first bleached in snow.
- Sheets are formed and dried.
- Dyed papers use plant dyes, synthetic dyes and pigments.
Paper paid as tax
Nara-period records in the Shosoin mention paper from Etchu province, and the Heian-period Engishiki lists washi as a product paid as tax. From the Edo period, Yatsuo paper was used for medicine packets and much else, and Taira village paper was made for the Kaga domain. Yatsuo, known for the Owara Kaze no Bon festival, prospered making packets for Toyama's travelling medicine sellers.
Good to know
- Pair Gokayama's gassho-zukuri farmhouses with a look at its paper.
- Dyed Etchu papers make light, flat souvenirs.
Questions travellers ask
Where is Etchu Washi made?
In Yatsuo, Gokayama and Birudan in Toyama.
What is Gokayama paper used for?
Restoring temples and cultural properties such as Katsura Imperial Villa.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.