Traditional craft
Inshu Washi
因州和紙
Handmade paper from Tottori, famous for the gasenshi and hanshi sheets that calligraphers and ink painters love.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 10 May 1975
- Type
- Washi paper
- Region
- Chugoku
- Official name in Japanese
- 因州和紙
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 鳥取市
Made for brush and ink
Inshu Washi is renowned for its quality, and is most famous for gasenshi and hanshi, papers suited to calligraphy and sumi ink painting. It also makes fusuma paper. It is made in Tottori city in Tottori.
Almost all by hand
- Plant fibres are steamed.
- The cooked fibres are beaten into fine fibre.
- The fibre is dispersed in water and formed into sheets.
- The sheets are dried. Nearly every step is still done by hand, by long-handed-down methods.
Paper for the court and the lord
The Heian-period Engishiki records that paper was presented to the imperial court from Inaba, the old name of this region. Production for the domain began in Aoya in the early 17th century and in Saji in the early 18th century. In the Edo period the domain encouraged papermaking so it could supply all its own official paper, and mountain farms with little farmland turned wild kozo into paper. A paper-making song from that time is still sung.
Good to know
- Calligraphy students: Inshu hanshi is a classic practice paper.
- Ink-painting paper is light and flat, easy to pack.
Questions travellers ask
What is Inshu Washi best known for?
Gasenshi and hanshi papers for calligraphy and ink painting.
How old is Inshu Washi?
It appears in Heian-period records, about 1,000 years ago.
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.