[VILLAGE Report vol.17] This paper is repairing cultural properties around the world | Kochi Prefecture

This is the last stop in Shikoku. Kochi has two nationally designated items: Tosa washi and Tosa forged blades two items in all. The number is small, but both carry weight.

Repairing cultural properties around the world

Tosa washi boasts a history of 1,000 years. The production volume of handmade washi has declined over time.

The reason it still remains is its wide variety and quality in total.

In addition to calligraphy paper, it is used for art papers for paintings and prints, and is also highly regarded as restoration paper for artworks and cultural properties, and is used around the world

This is a quiet, yet very powerful fact.

Restoring cultural properties allows no room for failure. If the paper used were to change in quality hundreds of years later, the restored object itself would be damaged. Being chosen for that setting means it has that kind of trust.

It survived not by production volume, but by how it is used

In the Tottori installment, I wrote about how Inshu washi overwhelmed other production areas through “development.”

Kochi chose a different path. It survived not through volume, but through uses that cannot be replaced.

This is not a matter of which is correct. In writing this series, it has become clear that there is more than one way to survive.

60% of the national share in forestry blades

Tosa forged blades The history of the late Tensho period (1590s), during the Chosokabe era is said to be the starting point.

developed mainly around the production of hatchets, sickles, saws and other tools learned from swordsmiths.

And today, some forestry blade products account for 60% of Japan’s national share.

The techniques once used to make swords moved into tools for mountain work. It is almost the reverse of the tatara ironmaking we saw in the Shimane installment. There, iron was brought back for swords; here, sword-making techniques were sent into tools.

The number two

Okinawa has 16 items, Kochi has 2. Looking only at the numbers, it is a large difference.

But Of its 2 items, one supports cultural properties around the world, while the other accounts for 60% of forestry blades.

The number of items and their influence are two different things.

We traveled around Shikoku

Kagawa holds 90% with fans. Tokushima’s indigo gave rise to 3 crafts. Ehime ranks sixth with ceramics. Kochi supports the world and the mountains with 2 items.

Each of the four had a different way of building strength.

Winning through volume. Protecting through connection. Being recognized early. Taking a place that cannot be replaced.

It seems there is no need to choose just one of them as the right answer.

From the next issue, we move on to the Kinki region. First, we head to Wakayama.

References: Kochi Prefectural Government, “Traditional Industries,” “Overview of Kochi Prefecture’s Traditional Crafts and Traditional Specialties,” “Tosa Washi Comprehensive Strategy,” “Tosa Handwork Illustrated Catalog,” and the Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries

—The Value Village Editorial Team

Photo: At by At / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)