| OCR Text |
Show bamboo stalks are cut during the dry season and the hard outer surface an the nodes, or joints, are removed. Photogra In both China and Japan, rice straw conslimtcs an important materia for the making of handmade paper, photograph 7, the best qualities of pape being made from straw that is of a greenish-yellow colour and from tha which has dried in the sun without exposure o rain or dew. In Japan, ric straw suited for papermaking is divided into three classes or qualities. Th fincst paper is made from that part of the strav which extends from th first node to the head;this part is known in Japan as sube and is section. The second quality includes the straw from the first to about an inch above the ground; this section is called nakanuki. Th remaining straw chaff which is used in making a most inferior kind o paper is known in Jap Onnli papersof the present day differ somewhat in textur from those fabricated hundreds of years ago; the noticeable difference i caused by an admixture of foreign pulps. This is to be deplored, and it i hoped that the papermakers of Japan will encourage the growth of the pape mulberry and the mitsumata in sufficient quantities so that the high qualit of their papers may not be impaired by the too generous use of substitutes ‘The tendency to adulterate has so far not been very serious, but each year as the crop of ative trees and shrubs grows smaller, some of the maker of paper are tempted to add more and more inferior pulp to their formulas This sincere caution is meant more for the papermakers of Japan tha for those of other parts of the Orient, inasmuch as I am most partial t Japanese papers and cannot but deplore this adulteration, scemingl prompted by commercial expedience. While this same cheapening o materials has taken place in China, the modern handmade papers of tha country have never appealed to me to the same extent as those of Japan and therefore my lamentations concerning the adulteration of Chine papers are more restrained Digtal mage © 2004 Marrot Libary, Universty of Uth, Allights reserve |
