Japanese Tissue
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Japanese tissue is a thin, strong
paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...
made from vegetable
fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorpora ...
s. Japanese tissue may be made from one of three plants, the ''kōzo'' plant (''Broussonetia papyrifera'', paper mulberry tree), the mitsumata (''Edgeworthia chrysantha'') shrub and the
gampi Gampi or Ganpi are a group of Japanese shrubs, members of the genus ''Wikstroemia'', some of which have been used for making paper since the 8th century. It is used to make the high quality washi paper, as are kōzo and mitsumata trees. Variou ...
tree (''Diplomorpha sikokiana''). The long, strong fibers of the kōzo plant produce very strong, dimensionally stable papers, and are the most commonly used fibers in the making of
Japanese paper is traditional Japanese paper. The term is used to describe paper that uses local fiber, processed by hand and made in the traditional manner. ''Washi'' is made using fibers from the inner bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub ('' ...
(washi). Tissue made from ''kōzo'', or ''kōzogami'' (楮紙), comes in varying thicknesses and colors, and is an ideal paper to use in the mending of books. The majority of mending tissues are made from ''kōzo'' fibers, though mitsumata and gampi papers also are used. Japanese tissue is also an ideal material for kites and airplanes models covering.


Forms

The kōzo plant is used in the manufacture of the following papers: The gampi plant is used in the manufacture of the following papers: The mitsumata plant is used in the manufacture of the following papers:


Manufacture

Japanese tissue paper is a handmade paper. The inner bark of the kōzo plant is harvested in the fall and spring, with material from the fall harvest being considered better quality. Bundles of kōzo sticks are steamed in a
cauldron A cauldron (or caldron) is a large pot ( kettle) for cooking or boiling over an open fire, with a lid and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger and/or integral handles or feet. There is a rich history of cauldron lore in religion, mythology, and ...
, then stripped of their bark and hung in the sun to dry. At this stage in the process, it is known as ''kuro-kawa'', or black bark. To make paper, the black bark must be converted into white bark. The stored black bark is soaked and then scraped by hand with a knife to remove the black outer coat. It is then washed in water and again placed in the sun to dry. White bark is boiled with
lye A lye is a metal hydroxide traditionally obtained by leaching wood ashes, or a strong alkali which is highly soluble in water producing caustic basic solutions. "Lye" most commonly refers to sodium hydroxide (NaOH), but historically has been u ...
for about an hour, then left to steam for several more hours. At this point, it is rinsed with clear water to remove the lye. Then, it is .Stream bleaching in January produces a higher quality paper The fibers are placed in a stream bed around which a
dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
is built. Clean water is let in periodically to wash the fibers. Alternatively, the fibers may be bleached using a process called small bleaching (ko-arai). In this case, it is first placed on boards and beaten with rods before being placed in a cloth bag and rinsed in clear running water. Impurities are removed after bleaching though a process known as chiri-tori. Any remaining pieces of bark, hard fibers or other impurities are picked out by hand or, in the case of very small pieces, by the use of pins. The remaining material is rolled into little balls and the balls are then beaten to crush the fibers. After being beaten, it is common for the kōzo fibers to be mixed with neri, which is a
mucilaginous Mucilage is a thick, gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion. The direction of their movement is always opposite to that of the secretion of ...
material made from the roots of the tororo-aoi plant. The neri makes the fibers float uniformly on water and also helps to "...slow the speed of drainage so that a better-formed sheet of paper will result." (Narita, p. 45) A solution of 30 percent
pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...
and 70 percent water is then mixed together in a vat. Neri may also be added to the vat. Nagashi-zuki, the most common technique for making sheets of paper, is then employed. The mixture is scooped on a
screen Screen or Screens may refer to: Arts * Screen printing (also called ''silkscreening''), a method of printing * Big screen, a nickname associated with the motion picture industry * Split screen (filmmaking), a film composition paradigm in which mul ...
and allowed to flow back and forth across the screen to interlock the fibers. This process is ideal for forming thin sheets of paper. The other technique for making paper, tame-zuki, does not use neri and forms thicker sheets of paper. The sheet of paper is placed on a wooden board and dried overnight, then pressed the next day to remove water. After pressing, the sheets are put on a drying board and brushed to smooth them. They are dried in the sun, then removed from the drying board and trimmed.


Uses

Japanese tissue is used in the conservation of books and manuscripts. The tissue comes in varying thicknesses and colors, and is used for a variety of mending tasks, including repairing tears, mending book hinges, and reinforcing the folds of signatures (the groups of pages gathered and folded together at the spine) or for reinforcement of an entire sheet through backing. The mender will select a piece of Japanese tissue that closely matches the color of the paper being mended, and chooses a thickness (
weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force acting on the object due to gravity. Some standard textbooks define weight as a vector quantity, the gravitational force acting on the object. Others define weight as a scalar qua ...
) suitable to the job at hand.


Mending tears

First, Japanese tissue in a color close to that of the paper to be mended is chosen. The tear is aligned and paste may be used on any overlapping surfaces in the tear to help hold it together during the mending process. A strip of tissue is torn away from the main sheet using a water tear. This is done by wetting the paper along the area to be torn and then pulling sideways with the fingers to separate the strip from the rest of the sheet of tissue, so that it will have feathered edges. The fibers in these feathered edges will allow the tissue to have a firmer hold on the mended paper and also to blend in with it once dried. Paste is applied to one side of the tissue strip, from the center outward. The tissue is then placed, paste side down, on the tear, leaving a little bit of the mending tissue hanging over the edge. This bit will be trimmed off after the mend dries. A dry brush is used to smooth the tissue over the tear, again from the center outward. The mended page is placed between layers of PET film or
glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...
board,
blotting paper Blotting paper, called bibulous paper, is a highly absorbent type of paper or other material. It is used to absorb an excess of liquid substances (such as ink or oil) from the surface of writing paper or objects. Blotting paper referred to as ...
, and Reemay (a "spunbonded polyester" cloth) to keep the paste from sticking to the blotting paper, and then lightly weighted and left to dry.


Mending book hinges

This is another task in which Japanese tissue is often used. In some cases, the first step may be to ''tip in'' (that is, add with a thin strip of adhesive) a
flyleaf Flyleaf may refer to: *In book design, a blank leaf in the front or back cover * Flyleaf (band) Flyleaf is an American rock band formed in Belton, Texas, in 2002. The band has charted on mainstream rock, Christian pop, and Christian metal ...
to become the base for the attachment of the hinge mend, if the original flyleaf is not well attached. A small support the height of the spine should be placed to eliminate stress on the hinge. Japanese tissue should be water torn in the same process as described above, in a width and length sufficient to cover the hinge of the book with about 3/8 inch extension over the sides. Paste should be brushed on to the tissue, from the center outward, transferred to the hinge and then brushed down with a dry brush. A sheet of PET film is placed to prevent the hinge from sticking together and it is weighted until it dries.


Reattaching signatures

In the case where an entire
signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a ...
(a folded sheet of paper forming several pages, or leaves, of a book) has come out, it may be reinserted by being sewn first onto a strip of Japanese paper, and then by pasting into the book along the newly formed hinge between the Japanese paper and original signature. Kites making The washi paper, as long as bamboo sticks and silk, is the most important material to build kites. The use of this material dates back for centuries in the eastern cultures. Aeremodelling Washi paper is used for covering the frame and wings of airplane models since the beginning of the 19th century. It's used especially on small models for the strength and the light weight. The vast majority of the washi paper used is either abaca or wood pulp. Abaca is vastly superior to wood pulp papers in strength overall. Gampi and mitsumata can be hit or miss with wet strength. Even with abaca, if a wet strengthening agent is not added to the fiber, it can almost melt in water.


Notes


See also

*
Preservation (library and archival science) In library and archival science, preservation is a set of preventive conservation activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record, book, or object while making as few changes as possible. Preservation activities vary widely and may include m ...
*
Japanese paper is traditional Japanese paper. The term is used to describe paper that uses local fiber, processed by hand and made in the traditional manner. ''Washi'' is made using fibers from the inner bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub ('' ...
** Aburatorigami *
Paper mulberry The paper mulberry (''Broussonetia papyrifera'', syn. ''Morus papyrifera'' L.) is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is native to Asia, The E. Lingle Craig Preservation Laboratory Repair and Enclosure Treatment Manual.
Images and text by Garry Harrison, web design by Jacob Nadal. * *Turner, Silvie. ''The Book of Fine Paper.'' p. 82-101. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson, Inc. 1998.


External links


The E. Lingle Craig Preservation Laboratory Repair and Enclosure Treatment Manual
{{Authority control Japanese paper Conservation and restoration materials