SStiU ON JAPANESE PAPER. 



stuff is only slightly washed, the paper is strong and firm, but coarse, 

 and of little value ; if it be too much washed, the paper is beautifully 

 white, but weak, runs, and is useless for writing. Experience only 

 teaches how the washing is to be done, which must be in running water. 

 The stuff is thrown into a strong basket, through which the water only 

 can pass, and continually agitated until it is sufficiently pure. 



To make fine paper, the stuff is washed twice, but in a cloth instead 

 of a basket ; for the more it is washed, the more the bark disunites, and 

 the greater the loss. In the process of washing, the knots and other 

 extraneous substances are, as much as possible, removed. 



When the stuff is sufficiently washed it is thrown on a strong, 

 smooth wooden table, and beaten by two or three men with sticks, and 

 a hard wooden implement called " kusnocki," until it is as clean as 

 paper. It is now put in water and stirred until it forms a paste. The 

 paste is washed in a tub, into which is then poured a slimy and 

 glutinous fluid, prepared by steeping rice and the root Oreni (ahea radice 

 viscosa, Flore ephemero magna puniceo) in water. The mixture is stirred 

 with a rod until the three substances are well mixed, and form a liquid 

 and uniform paste. The sheets are then made on forms, which consist 

 of rushes. Nothing now remains but to dry the paper. The sheets are 

 laid on a table covered with a mat, and between each sheet there is 

 placed a board called kama-kura, that is, cushion. This board, some- 

 what larger than the sheet, is of use to remove the sheet subsequently. 

 Each heap is also covered with a mat, upon which a board is laid, and 

 gradually a heavier weight, in order to press out the water. The next 

 day the weight is removed, and one sheet after another lifted with a 

 rod and placed on a thin board, to which it is made to adhere by hand, 

 and then placed in the sun. The thoroughly driel sheets are collected, 

 cut, and taken to the warehouse. 



The steeping in rice water makes the paper white and strong. This 

 6ize is prepared in a glazed earthen pot, in which the grains of rice are 

 soaked in water. The pot is at first slowly shaken, afterwards more 

 quickly, then cold water is added, and the whole strained through a 

 cloth. The remaining rice is put in fresh water, and the process re- 

 peated so long as the rice gives a glutinous matter. Japan rice is ex- 

 cellent for this purpose, as it is the whitest and most glutinous of Asia. 



The liquid from Oreni is prepared by putting the cut and bruised 

 root in water. In twelve hours the water is glutinous. According to 

 the season of the year more or less of this liquid is used, and the whole 

 art of making good paper depends upon the quantity of Oreni used. 



The coarse paper for packing purposes is prepared in the same way 

 from the bark of the shrub Kadse-kadsura, which Koempfer calls, 

 " papyrus procumbens, lactescens folio longe-lanceato, cortice cartaceo." 



Japan paper is strong, made in large sheets, and so much like linen 

 that it may be mistaken for it. 



Dr. Hawk describes the process much in the same manner. In De- 



