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Show In Kamimaki-mura I was especially interested in visiting the home an workroom of a mould-maker where we saw this skilled artisan place th small bamboo splints side by side and lace them with silk, thus formin the "laid and chain" lines of the mould, the entire work being accomplishe while he sat upon the floor. This occupation was carried on in a small cottag of three rooms, one the mould-maker's shop, another fitted with a vat fo making paper, while the third was devoted to the living quarters for th master, his wife and children, and his sister, all working at some branc of papermaking within the confnes of thei home. In the many distinc istricts o Japan where paper is made by hand, there are usually severa large mills which have many vats and employ a large number of workers but scattered around the large mills are dozens, sometimes hundreds, o nall one-vat mills operated by individual mmlm many of the house sheltenng both the papermaking equipment and th ch a combination home and mill was the onc belonging to the nld muuld makfi, an in this small house, di iguishable by a well-worn mould hanging ove the door as a sign, T first saw paper mulberry bark being by han - an interesting sight indeed, for here was a process totally unchange from the twelth century when papermaking was thought t© have introduced into the village of Kamimaki While the man of the house wa constructing moulds for other mills of the district, his sstee was beatin bark and his wife forming paper at the vat, the children placing the semimoist sheets upon boards for drying surelya picture reminiscent o mediaeval times, the workers being totally withiits uluuu destruction of hand craftsmanship The hand beating (mmkm) so interesting to me was done upon heavy stone, about two by four feet, with a thickness of six inches A handfu of mulberry bark was laid upon the stone, water was thrown upon it, an it was then beaten with two mallets, one in each hand of the woman worke and wielded alternately with marked rhythm. As the pulp spread out upo Alrights reserved |
