Wonders of WashiTesuki Washi Tanino makes ultrarefined paper with an amber sheenThe third UNESCO-commended type of washi paper is Hosokawa-shi, made in Saitama Prefecture.

Fresh from the press: Hiroko Tanino raises a just-made sheet of Hosokawa-shi up from the paper mold. | MASASHI KUMA
Fresh from the press: Hiroko Tanino raises a just-made sheet of Hosokawa-shi up from the paper mold. | MASASHI KUMA

It takes its name from a high-grade paper called Hosokawa hosho, developed during the Edo Period (1603-1868) and employed for such things as record- and account-keeping as well as for covering fusuma sliding doors. The Hosokawa-shi that was once so necessary to the lives of common people is now used to make art prints and to preserve and restore cultural properties.