Uchiyama Gami

Pure kozo, no pulp

Uchiyama Gami uses only kozo, the strongest and most supple washi fibre, with no wood pulp. Kozo is a paper mulberry, a shrub of the mulberry family. Pure kozo paper is tough, breathes and holds moisture well, and it does not yellow in the sun, so it is ideal for shoji screens and for documents meant to last. It is made in Iiyama, Nozawaonsen and Sakae in Nagano.

Snow and ice water

• Kozo bark is frozen and bleached on the snow, a method that uses no harsh chlorine.
• Fibres are prepared over some 20 to 25 steps in all.
• In nagashi-zuki sheet forming, the maker rocks the mould back and forth and side to side without stopping, in water cold enough to numb the hands.
• The sheets are dried.

Learned in Mino

Uchiyama Gami is said to have begun in the early Edo period, when a craftsman who had learned papermaking in Mino came home and began making paper himself. It takes its name from the place, Uchiyama. In winter, kozo laid out under the eaves is a famous seasonal sight in snowy Iiyama.