There is an intriguing story about the Japanese development of shifu, a unique cloth made from paper.  In olden days after spies had completed their expeditions into enemy territory and needed to return to their lords with the secured information, it was imperative that the missives be kept secret and intact. Onto washi, Japanese handmade paper, the confidential message would be brushed by ink. The paper would be cut and twisted into thread and then woven into cloth. A spy could thus pass through inspection without being caught by the enemy. Once home, the cloth would be unwoven, the thread untwisted and the communiqué reassembled and transmitted to superiors.

The truth is that because so little is known about shifu, and with no written record, we can only theorize about its origin.  There is a belief that twisted paper was used for its strength in samurai armor against swords during battle. Also, weavers used materials such as bamboo sheath, straw and possibly twisted paper at the start of the weaving process.

Early Records

Based upon what is known, shifu was first made in the early to mid 1600s at the time of the Tokugawa or Edo period.  During this time, paper was made in large amounts and became an extensive source of tax income for the government.  As a result, it was more accessible and affordable to the majority of people than in the past.

With the exception of very early pieces, old examples of shifu were of two distinctive kinds: one type of shifu was woven with large paper thread by wives of farmers and fishermen to be used for daily necessities such as working clothes; the other type which used very thin paper thread was woven into fine cloth, and sold by samurai.    

Gradually, shifu’s popularity increased in many parts of the country along with the growth of papermaking. Shiroishi City in Miyagi Prefecture (a northeastern district of Japan) started refining techniques in the early 1600s for its high quality paper called Shiroishi-gami made by local farmers. In 1615, Lord Date from nearby Sendai City along with Katakura, head of Shiroishi City, encouraged the growing of paper mulberry trees for papermaking.  Knowledge about twisted paper possibly reached Shiroishi by two daughters of the ruling Sanada family who married into the Katakura family.

In time, cloth was made using Shiroishi paper and became known as Shiroishi shifu.  The existence of this cloth was primarily due to the appreciation and support of Katakura. With the cooperation and careful work of many people within the samurai family, the technique for making shifu became very refined, and by the early 1700s Shiroishi City was known as the largest producing center for shifu. The first record for Shiroishi shifu was in 1719; in 1720 it was reportedly well- known for its fine quality.  Sold widely, shifu was given as presents to high-ranking men including the Tokugawa Shogunate, governor of Japan until the late 19th century.

Unfortunately, less is known about shifu made in other locations.  What we do know is that a lot of paper was recycled by cutting and spinning five to ten millimeter strips into thread from letters and old fashioned account books called daifukuchō.  One can still see the sumi (black ink) from calligraphy in the old garments; the effect being a random kasuri (tie-dye) pattern after having been woven into cloth.  In the Shonai district of Yamagata Prefecture shifu was called orokogi.  Large cotton and daifukuchō threads were spun together to make cloth for fishermen’s working wear; this type of shifu was used for its insulating qualities because when wet, the paper threads expanded and helped to seal in body heat.

In contrast to the thicker paper thread, finer thread like that used for Shiroishi shifu was made from two and three millimeter paper strips.  These paper threads were fine and white like silk threads, and kinujifu fabric made with a silk (kinu) warp and paper weft was praised very highly. Many elegant kinujifu cloths were made using natural dyes, including indigo and walnut, woven in three basic weaves: plain (hira), crêpe (chirimen) and figured (mon).

Clothing Uses

These fabrics and others made outside of Shiroishi were appreciated for their light weight and coolness. For these reasons, the cloth was frequently made into a katabira, an unlined summer kimono, using a silk and cotton warp and paper weft, instead of the usual all ramie or hemp fiber.  In Shiroishi, much of the shifu was made for the nobility and the fashioning included a summer kimono (montsuki); a formal upper coat with family crest (kataginu); and a formal divided skirt (hakama) and fukusa, the outermost wrapping used in the most formal presentation ceremony. Book covers, handkerchiefs, and tablecloths were also made, and an all-paper cloth called morojifu was made for both shichō, mosquito netting and kamishimo, a man’s formal overcoat.

Elsewhere, morojifu was made for undergarments and menjifu was made into farming and fishing clothes and other daily uses.  A part of the Seattle Art Museum’s collection is a noragi or farmer’s coat dating back to the Meiji era.  An alternating paper and cotton weft was woven, and using cotton, an embroidery technique called sashiko added interest and extra durability.  A similar technique of alternating threads, kobai-ori (“red-plum” fabric), was produced in Shiroishi with a silk warp and an alternating thick and thin paper weft.

A decrease in shifu production resulted from new changes in social structure made by the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), when Katakura and family members journeyed north to develop the resources of the island of Ezo (Hokkaidō); this era also adopted industry introduced by the West. With the dissolution of the samurai class, and the manufacturing of inexpensive machine-made clothes, shifu’s production declined.  By the early 1900s very little was being made.

      

Twentieth Century Revival

Yet a resurgence of interest began in the late 1930s and 1940s when other raw materials like cotton were scarce.  Around the same time, a revival of Shiroishi shifu was begun by Chūtaro Satō. Later, Nobumitsu Katakura, fifteenth descendent of the earlier Katakura, contributed to the renascence by publishing in 1941 a small book about Shiroishi shifu.  A local crafts institute was founded in Shiroishi City primarily for shifu and kamiko (nonwoven paper cloth).  And in 1955, the Japanese government named shifu “Intangible Cultural Property” for its uniqueness and the craftspeople’s outstanding skills.

Three layers of paper mulberry bark.  Left to right:

outer woody bark, green bark and white fibrous bark.

Materials And Production

Of the three traditional Japanese papermaking fibers, the principal fiber used for making paper thread comes from the paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia genus), because of its strength, availability and high quality.  From the many varieties of trees in the paper mulberry family, paper from two principal trees termed kaji (Broussonetia papyrifera),  and kōzo (Broussonetia kajinoki, Sieb.) has been utilized for paper threads. The other two traditional fibers, mitsumata (Edgeworthia papyrifera, Sieb. et Succ.) and gampi (Diplomorpha sikokiana, Fr. et Sev.), also have been used for shifu. Although some of these papers are more expensive and the fibers slightly weaker than paper mulberry fibers, very fine paper thread and cloth can be made from them. An old record states that gampi shifu using a cotton or silk warp was made in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture around 1891.

The term used for Japanese hand papermaking is nagashizuki. The method is quite different from Western papermaking called tamezuki, as is the finished paper.  Japanese papers, capable of being very thin, yet strong and soft, can be later transformed into paper thread.  Some reasons for this unusual ability to make quality thread from paper are the fiber’s ability to readily absorb water and conversely to evaporate water; most important is the paper’s strength, pliability and crispness.

Today, there are a few sources for high quality paper good for paper thread. Tadao Endō of Shiroishi City has carried on the tradition of making Shiroishi-gami and his wife, Mashiko, uses his paper to make shifu.  In Yamagata town in Ibaraki Prefecture, Seiki Kikuchi has been making washi since 1965, and shifu-gami (shifu paper) since 1977.

Like most fine washi, shifu paper is made during the colder months using pure fiber and water.  Young paper mulberry trees between one and two years old are selected in early spring, and only fiber from the middle section of the tree is used to make paper. (Strong winds bend and toughen the tops of the trees, while the large amount of water passage in the base of the trees lowers fiber quality.)

One exceptional difference between shifu paper and other Japanese papers occurs during sheet formation.  A sheet is formed on a Japanese mold or sugeta consisting of a bamboo screen and a hinged wooden frame. Great care and skill is taken to build up several thin layers of fiber in an up-and-down direction only with a clear viscous formation aid called neri that comes from the tororo-aoi (Hibiscus manihot L.) root.  This vertical moving action helps to minimize the overstraining of fibers when thin paper strips are cut.  Imperfections such as bark or large fibers make cutting the paper an added difficulty. Finally, after the paper is made, a period of aging is desirable to obtain better results when making thread.

Unfortunately like washi, shifu’s past industry no longer exists as it once did; master craftspeople for each stage of the paper threadmaking process were once maintained for Shiroishi shifu.  With many workers involved and total concentration placed on each individual’s specialty, a large volume of shifu was produced. But today’s shifu makers are more like the wives of farmers and fishermen from past times who were involved in all stages of the process, rather than focusing on a particular part.

Current Methods

There are very few shifu makers today in Japan partly because the process of making shifu is so time consuming.  Presently, fewer than twenty people are making shifu and only about five or six of them are making and preserving shifu like Shiroishi shifu. Small groups of individuals in different parts of Japan are faithfully keeping shifu alive using slightly varying techniques for making paper thread and cloth.

Much of what is known about shifu comes from years of experimentation and study of old shifu samples. One well-known maker of fine shifu is Sadako Sakurai from Mito City in Ibaraki Prefecture; she has said that after ten years of working with shifu, she is only now beginning to understand its nature and to unveil the mysteries of making fine paper thread and cloth.  Some shifu makers are recycling daifukuchō paper as in the past, while others are doing their own calligraphy on paper. Michiko Kawaguchi from Fukuchiyama in Kyoto Prefecture makes large paper thread with paper bought at Kurotani, one of the few remaining paper villages. All are creating their own unique shifu using a simple and ingenious way of making paper thread.

Dyeing, Weaving, Washing

Japan is well-known for its long history of gorgeous textiles dyed with nature’s colors.  Those who use natural dyes for shifu have spent years in serious study, and they are very strict about choosing permanent, good colors.  Interestingly, paper threads take natural dyes better than cotton, resulting in rich colors similar to these obtained with silk.  Of the materials used for natural dyeing, indigo is still a favorite, and others include yellow, brown or black from the cone, wood or bark of the alder tree called yashabushi, a dark red from enji or the lac insect, and the katekyu or gambia catechu crystals containing a reddish brown color.  These extracts and many other choices are often dyed in pairs called over-dyeing to produce new color tones.

Today’s shifu makers use a wide variety of natural dyes as they can be readily obtained; the resulting shifu exhibits a greater range of colors than found in traditional shifu. Paper thread, if left undyed, is appreciated for its own natural color.  If colored, the threads are usually dyed after spinning. Most dyestuffs are simmered in hot water and later a mordant is often added to fix the color and /or to deliberately change the dye color.  This extremity in treatment to the threads requires gentle handling while wet, but strength is regained after drying.

Shifu should be woven differently than other fabrics because of the way the internal structure of the paper thread is twisted or rolled.  The floor loom called a hata is counterbalanced, and often threaded for a narrow width of cloth set at forty-eight to sixty-four ends per inch. A gentle beat is important because of the thread’s nature; this is difficult to do well. Lots of practice and a sense for the “right” beat achieves the weaver’s preferred feel for shifu.

An important part of fine shifu is that it can be washed without damage to the paper threads, whereas cloth made with much thicker thread or poorer quality paper can not take such washing.  In making shifu for clothing to be worn often, it is then necessary for it to sustain washing.  Before washing, woven threads are straight and stiff.  After washing, the threads become softer, slightly wavy, and they expand with slight shrinkage to make a firmer weave.

The method for washing shifu today compared with the past is quite different.  Shiroishi shifu had elaborate methods for the different kinds of cloth.  Plain and figured cloths were soaked in cold water and wood ash lye and then dried in the sun. That process was repeated thirty times for undyed and fifty times for dyed fabric. Contemporary shifu makers do not wash the fabric as laboriously. Instead, yudōshi or steaming of shifu is done by soaking the cloth in an accordion fashion in hot water and rinsing several times. This results in softening, removal of sizing and any paper or bleeding dye color, as well as change in the weave’s structure. The cloth is then dried, draped over clothes’ rods in the sun, and ironed before completely dry. This simpler and less time-consuming method of washing, leaves shifu soft, with a feel and look similar to Shiroishi shifu.

Shirt cloth made with a cotton warp and

a paper weft (menjifu) by Susan Byrd

A Beautiful Craft Preserved

A silk, cotton, linen or paper warp can be combined with a paper weft to produce many beautiful weaves.  A traditional bolt of cloth or tan, which measures about eleven meters long after washing, is made into a kimono by shifu makers. Other traditional clothing made today includes an obi, formal kimono sash; hanten, short working coat; jinbei, men’s summer robe; and noren, doorway curtain.  Clothes are sewn together by hand, using tiny stitches, and little waste of material; much of the clothing is woven plain with a solid color, a striped design or tie-dye.  Stencil resist dyeing called katazome uses indigo dye to adorn obi cloth. Ise town in Mie Prefecture is famous for katagami, intricately cut stencil papers, once used for Shiroishi shifu. Small samples of katazome shifu can be seen at a museum in Sendai; Ōji Paper Museum in Tokyo also exhibits old shifu.

  

A jinbei or garment for summer wear has a cotton warp and a paper

weft.  Cotton threads were dyed with indigo. Made by Susan Byrd.

Shifu accessories include napkins and table cloths made with a linen (asa) warp and a paper weft. The fabric is also cut and machine sewn into contemporary clothing. A record of each piece of cloth is often kept in a sample book called a shimachō for quick reference.  Exciting and different textiles already have been produced using various thread sizes with respect to the paper. In the few years shifu has been produced from paper thread that was made with other fibers including tropical ones, such as abaca (manila hemp) from the Philippines; duglug (breadfruit) from Guam; bashō (banana) from Okinawa; and lokta (daphne) from Nepal. This direction has opened up new resources for quality paper including many in America.

    

The recent revival of shifu in Japan has allowed for the preservation of what we know about early shifu production. And with the continued resurgence of interest in hand papermaking, more and varied fibers are being introduced which will create new forms of shifu fabric. Both traditional shifu, reproduced in accordance with historical information, and new non-traditional variations, will assure the continuation of this beautiful, quiet art, the making of paper thread into fabric.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barrett, Timothy. 1983 Japanese Papermaking. New York and Tokyo: John Weatherhill, Inc.

Byrd, Susan. “Shifu: Fine Handmade Paper Cloth,” Hand Papermaking, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter 1986) pp. 18-22.

Hughes, Sukey. 1978 Washi. Tokyo: Kodansha International.

Katakura, Nobumitsu. 1983 Shiroishi Shifu. Kasama, Japan: Cannabis Press.

Miller, Dorothy. “Shifu: A Handwoven Paper Textile of Japan,” Ars Textrina, Vol. 4 (Dec. 1985), pp. 43-66.

Sahlstrand, Margaret and Koplos, Janet. “Paper Clothing, East & West,” Fiberarts, 11, No. 2 (March/April 1984), pp. 36-38.

1. ✦ This was an article in Ornamemt, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Winter 1988)  pp.66-71.
   

1. ❖ The kimono at the top of the page is called Summer Light.  It is an unlined summer kimono made with a cotton warp & a 2 mm paper weft. Natural dyes include indigo, lac, walnut and ink writing on paper before cutting into strips (creates a random ikat design). Made by Susan Byrd.