p. 195 | Paper in Japan

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 17, 1875

Paper in Japan.

When a people contrive to make saucepans, fine pocket handkerchiefs, and sailors' water-proof overcoats, out of paper, they may be considered as having pretty thoroughly mastered the subject—and this is claimed for the manufacture in paper, with the additional little touching information that the saucepans are generally used over charcoal fires.

According to their own account, these ancient islanders wrote upon silk, faced with linen, and also used very thin wood-shavings for the same purpose, until nearly the close of the third century of the Christian era. About A. D. 280, paper was first imported from Corea, and, superseding the home-made fabrics, monopolized the market until the year A. D. 610, when the king of Corea sent two priests to Japan to establish the manufacture. This paper was easily torn and liable to be destroyed by worms, and besides did not take the ink well. These manifold disadvantages attracted the attention of Tarshi, the son of the reigning Mikado, who substituted as material the bark of a species of paper-mulberry, which is still extensively cultivated for the purpose. By Tarshi's orders the tree was planted throughout the country, the method of manufacture publicly taught, and thus the industry was commenced which has since so prosperously continued.

At the present time two hundred and sixty-three sorts of paper are manufactured in Yeddo. In regard to this immense number of styles, the national love for formalities must be considered, as, for instance, in addition to the usual varieties to which we are accustomed as appropriate for deeds, public documents, letters, notes, etc., the Japanese list mentions four distinct kinds intended to be exclusively used for poetry and songs. There are also kinds enumerated as employed for umbrellas, hats, lanterns, and water-proof clothing; one being described as serving for candle-wick and pocket handkerchiefs, while another was intended for handkerchiefs only, and a third is used for dressing dolls.

Special kinds are prepared exclusively as wrappings for the several styles of religious, civic, or social gifts.

The excellence in the manufacture is due, in a great degree, to the fact that Japan furnishes a number of trees and shrubs with a fibrous bark, particularly adapted as a material for paper; and several plants, of which the roots, seeds, or sap, yield a natural size for the surface of the sheet.

The species of Mulberry first used in the seventh century is still regarded as containing the best fiber, and it is extensively cultivated. The plants are annually cut down to the root until the fifth year, when, by this treatment, the wood has become dense and strong. The branches are then cut into lengths of about one yard, and steamed in a straw vessel over a boiler. As soon as the bark begins to separate from the wood, it is stripped off by the hand, the wood itself being preserved for fuel. The bark is then hoisted upon poles to dry by exposure to the air, and when dry it is separated into bundles, weighing about thirty-two pounds each. The dry bark is then immersed in running water for twelve hours, after which the outer husk or bark is scraped off to serve as the material for an inferior kind of paper. The remaining or inner portion is again washed in running water, and, after pressure under heavy stones, the fiber is boiled with ashes. After another washing it is well pounded and molded into balls. These balls are next thrown into a wooden trough, and mixed with a pulp, together with a paste made from the root of the Tororo—a shrub somewhat resembling the cotton plant. A portion of this pulp is next placed in a frame, consisting of an inner and an outer portion, with a false bottom of plated bamboo. A dexterous and peculiar jerk from the skilled operator sets the pulp in the frame, and it is then so placed as to permit the water to drain off. The sheet of paper is lifted from the frame with a piece of bamboo, and laid with a brush on a drying board, the side adhering to the board forming the face of the paper.

The paper “warranted to wash” is made of another kind of paste; and in the oil paper, for water-proof clothes, a glue is used, made from young fern shoots, stained with the expressed juice of persimmons. Colors are applied in powder mixed with bean paste.

Several of the trees and plants used in the manufacture of paper are described as being objects of careful cultivation, especially in the manuring and preparation of the soil.—Sel.