Understand/Experience
The sound of making washi paper echoes in the traditional gabled, udatsu-style old houses of the Goka area.The Echizen Washi no Sato, where facilities for experiencing Echizen washi are concentrated, includes the Udatsu Crafts Museum, where visitors can watch the paper-making process with traditional tools.Naho Murata, a traditional craftsman, is working on paper-making in a building that is said to have been established in 1748.
“This place was moved here in 1997when I moved to Imadate.I feel we have a connection.”
Ms. Murata is from Kyoto and studied clothing art, but when she came across Echizen washi, she was attracted by the variety of techniques and the beauty of the paper itself, and decided to become a paper-maker.
Women often act as strainers, but Ms Murata carries out the entire process by herself, from heating the raw materials to finishing.The master taught me to make paper on my own, even on a desert island.‘Echizen Torinoko-gami’, which she learnt under a research-oriented master in pursuit of good washi, has been preserved through the establishment of a preservation society to preserve the technique, with Ms Murata acting as an instructor.
“Being able to play a role in communicating the work of papermaking and the appeal of washi at the Crafts Museum made me want to move from being a dot in the history of Echizen washi to being a line.”
The project will communicate the beauty of washi to a variety of people, including tourists, local children, young people aspiring to become craftspeople, artists seeking special paper …and create a ‘line’ connecting people with Murata herself, Echizen washi, and the town of Imadate.And become a ‘line’ that conveys the pride of the production area of ‘Echizen Torinoko-gami’ to the next generation.The ‘Echizen paper’ is a ‘line’ that conveys the pride of ‘Echizen Torinoko-gami’ to future generations.The days spent making paper at the craft center led to deep reflection on who I am as a craftsman in the production area.
As a lone papermaker, she would like to focus on making more accessible and easy-to-use washi, while searching for the paper that is needed in this day and age.
”Don't you feel an instinctive sense of comfort when you see something natural or something made by human hands? I want to become a papermaker who can make paper that conveys the beauty of Japanese paper, so that people can look at its richness.”
Ms. Murata says she loves the process of turning plant fibers into paper.Inheriting the spirit of her mentor, she strives to create ‘good paper’ that people can enjoy and use.
“We make a sheet of paper and deliver it as paper. We just have to keep doing that, and keep working hard at it.”
Text / Kumie Satou
