Karakami is often used for interior decorations such as wallpaper and fusuma (sliding door) paper in Kyoto’s prestigious spaces, including historical buildings, long-established ryokans, famous hotels, and ryotei (Japanese-style restaurants). Karakami craftsman Ko Kado brings out new charm by adding a modern essence to the delicate beauty of karakami.
The beauty of karakami brought from China and developed in Kyoto
Karakami, as the name suggests, is a type of paper introduced from the Tang Dynasty during the Nara period (710-794). After the abolition of the Japanese envoys to the Tang Dynasty, karakami was produced domestically, and the first state-run paper mill in Japan, “Kamiya-in,” was established in Kyoto. During the Heian period (794-1185), karakami was used by aristocrats as a paper on which to write sentences and waka poems, and eventually monkarakami (patterned karakami) appeared. This type of paper is now referred to as karakami.
In the Medieval and Edo periods, karakami was used for interior decorations such as screens, partitions, shoji screens, and fusuma sliding doors, and its use spread further.
Delicate work to copy the pattern
Karakami is made by copying patterns onto Japanese paper using a printing block.
The woodblocks are wooden boards on which patterns are carved. Karakami is printed by rubbing the paper on the woodblock with the palm of the hand, which requires deep carving for beautiful printing, and the soft wood of the hoki tree was ideal for this purpose.
A sieve, a round wooden frame covered with gauze, is used to apply the colors to the woodblocks. First, the gauze-covered part of the sieve is coated with water using a brush, and then paint is applied. The paint is made by mixing mica or gofun (gofun) to give texture to the pattern and nori (laver) to make it adhere to the paper. The proportion of each mixture depends on the climate and humidity of the day, the habits of the woodblock and engraver, and the nature of the paper used.
A sieve covered with paint is lightly pressed onto the woodblock, and the paper is placed on the sieve, which is then gently pressed by hand to copy the pattern. As with the paint mixture, the degree of printing force needs to be adjusted from time to time. Karakami, which requires such delicate manual work, is soft and fluffy and has a unique beauty.
Deepened my interest in Japan in the U.S., where I studied abroad
Mr. Kado began his career as a karakami craftsman in 2003, when he was in his 20s. Prior to that, he had worked as a graphic designer in Japan and abroad.
Born and raised in Kyoto, Japan, Kado graduated from Kyoto Saga Art College and then moved to San Francisco, California, USA, where he enrolled in the graphic design program at the Academy of Art University. What surprised him at his study abroad destination was that Japanese traditional culture, art, and contemporary art were often discussed in his university classes. My classmates often asked me about Japan, and I took this as an opportunity to start learning more about Japanese culture and art.
Just around this time, when I temporarily returned to Kyoto, an acquaintance invited me to visit a long-established karakami (Chinese paper) workshop. Computers were beginning to spread to the general public, and the majority of creators were moving toward digital technology, but I felt that the world of handcrafted work was unique in its own way. Kado was also attracted to the fact that the work could only be done in Kyoto, and he had a hunch that he would be able to make use of his graphic arts background in the world of karakami.
Starting out as a karakami craftsman in a long-established karakami workshop in Kyoto, Japan, from a career in art
After graduating from an American university, Kado worked as a graphic designer in New York for about a year and a half before returning to Japan in 2003. He did some design work in Japan, but his interest in karakami only grew. With his portfolio in hand, he went to a karakami workshop he had visited in the past and found that they were looking for staff to plan and design products for a new store opening, and he began working there as a designer.
At the workshop, he also learned how to make karakami. Eventually, he was also given the opportunity to work as a craftsman, and was allowed to be involved in karakami making, which had originally been passed down in the family business. Mr. Kado learned voraciously.
Guided by a townhouse in Nishijin, he became independent and opened “ Kamisoe”
Mr. Kado became independent in 2009, five years after he started working at Karacho. It was when he found a property that looked like a good place for a workshop and store.
The location was along Kuramaguchi-dori, an area on the north side of the city of Nishijin, famous for Nishijin textiles, with Daitokuji Temple to the north, the Urasenke Kaikan to the east, and weavers’ workshops and companies to the south. Despite being well away from the center of Kyoto, Nishijin is home to tea masters, priests, and various artisans with a high level of cultural awareness, so it seemed like an interesting place to work. Guided by this premonition, Kado decided to set up his own business.
A world of softly glowing white expressed through the use of gofun and kira stamping
Kado’s workshop and store is named “Kami Soe.
The store on the first floor is neatly lined with cards, letter paper, and pouch bags, all made by hand. Karakami is used for the wallpaper and the fusuma (wooden floorboards), and the shop also serves as a showroom for those who wish to commission interior decorations.
A great souvenir when you stop by Kyoto
The most popular type of paper is white paper with a white pattern printed on it. The pattern is not printed directly on the washi, but first the surface of the washi is dyed with gofun (a powder made from the shells of clams, oysters, etc.), which is called gubiki. The surface of the washi is first dyed with gofun (powdered clam or oyster shells) and then stamped with mica made from crushed granite. The matte texture of the gofun and the diffuse glow of the mica reflect light softly in the natural light that reaches the store. The non-white products are also beautiful with subdued colors that enhance the shading and luster of the printed patterns. Many of these are said to be based on classical color matching.
Karakami patterns also include motifs such as oriental patterns and quarter-sawn wood
Karakami handled at Kamiizoe has many unique patterns that can only be found here.
There seem to be two major types of kara-kami patterns. The first is to print patterns using existing objects as woodblocks. For example, some Oriental patterns are created using woodblocks found in antique stores in India, Turkey, and other countries where they have traveled, or patterns are created using woodblocks made from straight grain wood or architectural woodblocks. The woodblocks are made from woodblocks with a straight grain or architectural burr (a process that leaves distinctive marks on a square piece of wood or a board). The former graphic designer’s aesthetic sense allows him to find interesting motifs in existing objects and incorporate them into his designs.
Another pattern is that Kado himself designs his own original patterns and then gives them to woodblock craftsmen to have them made. In some cases, he collaborates with another artist to create the pattern design.
In this way, Mimizoe’s karakami made with his unique worldview has attracted the attention of many people, and Kamiizoe’s SNS often receives inquiries about orders not only from Japan but also from overseas.
Work as a creator and a craftsman
Currently, Kado is working on hotel interiors and other projects, as well as collaborating with designers. One of his best-known projects is the direction of Ryuichi Sakamoto 2019, an analog vinyl box containing six soundtracks released by the late musician Ryuichi Sakamoto in 2019.
The box was limited to 200 pieces and sold at Sakamoto’s label’s official store for 100,000 yen per piece. Inside the box is a 7-inch single of a new song composed and recorded for the buyer, a portrait by a Korean artist, and an incense stand created by Sakamoto’s longtime favorite incense and craft artist. Also included is a woodblock print made from Sakamoto’s own handwritten score, signed by Sakamoto.
In order to bring his ideas to fruition, Mr. Kado selected a designer to take charge of the overall design work, while at the same time creating the paper for the outside of the box, the artwork for the inner sleeve of each record, and the sheet music to be included in the package. The woodblock prints, which were printed in white on white paper, are of a high quality, and Sakamoto’s handwritten corrections and writings emerge in the shadows, vividly conveying the flow of the composer’s consciousness.
After the completion of the box, Mr. Sakamoto, who held the actual box in his hands, commented, “The presence of the box as an object is even more wonderful than I imagined. In this age of digital music, where music can be easily distributed and downloaded, the value of handmade work that cannot be mass-produced must be conveyed to the world. It seems that this attempt was successful.
Work that digs out and sheds light on the buried past
While active in highly artist-oriented work, Kado is also involved in a number of restoration and other projects that recreate the techniques of karakami craftsmen of the ancient times. One such project is the restoration of Saga-bon utai-bon, one of the research projects conducted by Musashino Art University’s Center for Art Formation Research from 2014 to 2018.
Saga-bon is the general term for books published by Hon’ami Koetsu, a comprehensive artist active in the early Edo period, and Suminokura Soan, who studied calligraphy from Koetsu. These books were printed using wooden type. The luxurious binding is also a distinctive feature, with various colors of paper used for the cover and text, and printed with mica patterns. With these characteristics, the Saga-bon holds an important position as the most artistic printed material in the history of Japanese printing culture.
In the Saga-bon Chanting Book Restoration Project, while unraveling related materials held by the Musashino Art University Library, Kyoto craftsmen meticulously traced the various production processes necessary to restore the Saga-bon, such as wood type engraving, wood type typesetting, and paper making, and by restoring it, tried to explore the unexplored aspects of our predecessors’ production techniques and intentions. Kado’s project was to explore the unexplored aspects of his predecessors’ production techniques and intentions.
Kado was in charge of the mica printing of the cover for this project, and when he saw the original Saga utai book, he felt that it was “different from what he had imagined. The mica print was unevenly applied, with blurring and pooling, and the paper was wrinkled. Frankly speaking, the quality of the mica prints was not high, and the impression was that the modern prints were superior in terms of sophistication.
The researcher leading the project thought that the seemingly rough finish was an expression of the “beauty of imperfection” advocated by the Rimpa school, a comprehensive art school founded by Koetsu, but Kado’s view was different. Karakami at that time had to be made in large quantities by hand, and it was probably not possible to take enough time and effort to produce each piece of karakami. On the other hand, today, karakami is regarded as a “special” traditional craft, and people tend to spend more time and effort to finish it neatly. The researchers reasoned that because karakami was positioned differently in the past than it is today, there may have been a difference in the finished product.
The researchers were interested in Kado’s unique view that he could reproduce the craftsmanship of the time and approach the intentions of the maker through his techniques. As a result, for the Sagahon Chantben Restoration Project, Mr. Kado produced two types of karakami covers: one that faithfully imitated the old style of production, and another that was produced to the highest level of finish that he was comfortable with.
Kado is now strongly attracted to the work of exploring the karakami techniques left behind by his predecessors through such restoration and repair work. He is committed to putting into words and conveying the techniques and aesthetic value of the handcrafts that have been passed down through the generations. This is a new theme that he has taken up over the past 10 years or so.
In the past, I was in the position of being taught “what karakami is,” but now I am expected to play the role of the conveyor, thinking up my own interpretation of what karakami is. In the U.S., when his classmates used to ask him about Japan, Kado studied Japanese culture in order to explain it in his own words, and before he knew it, he was in a position to talk about it from a craftsman’s perspective.
Holding a shiny card in his hand, Kado-san said, “This is a piece of copper-polished karakami paper.
This is karakami with a copper finish. I made it because I found out about this technique when I was researching old materials. I like the process of digging up things that have fallen into disuse and tailoring them to fit the modern age.
Karakami craftsmen with a designer’s eye add something to the ancient techniques while going back and forth between the present and the past.
Kado’s karakami created in this way will continue to convey the core beauty of handwork that makes people around the world want to pick it up.
