Rice paper was a colloquialism for handmade paper created in a specific region. The term got it’s name as a universal descriptor for paper made according to the traditions of specific locations where the paper was made, according to local customs.
Also called Xuancheng by the Chinese during the Tang dynasty indicating where it was made and referring to paper made of rice and wingceltis bark.
From the Tang Dynasty through the Qing Dynasties, Rice Paper was the generic term for paper made from tree bark and rice straw. Rice paper was and is made predominantly from plant or wood fiber, such as rice straw, bamboo, Hemp, mulberry, Gampi among many others.
Rice plants from the Village of Xuan in the Anhui Province was said to be the best material for making rice paper, and it was produced up until the 14th century. During the 7th Century, Rice paper manufacture spread to Japan and Korea where it was called Washi.
Fast forward to more modern times, and Washi (paper) was used by Ukiyo-e atists who produced handmade prints by the thousands. So many of these handmade prints proliferated that they were often used for packing materials for Blue and White ware porcelains being sent to Europe, and particularly to Paris. In Japan, Washi was used for numerous purposes, from drawing, painting, printmaking, calligraphy, shoji screens, windows, doors, etc., scrolls, wrapping, just about anything requiring strong yet lightweight material.
Eventually in Paris, so many of the printed Ukiyo-e prints found in packing began finding their way into the hands of artists who appreciated the exquisite workmanship and design. During the impressionist period in France artists such as Gaugin, Renoir, VanGogh, Seurat, Monet, Degas, and several others became influenced by the amazing “people’s art” literally meaning “The Floating World”. Ukiyo-e, washi papers, and all things of the culture of Japan took the art world by storm in Paris, quickly earning the name “Japonaisery” or “Japanism”.
Since the washi paper was strong and versatile, artists found new ways to use it and soon, artists such as Van Gogh were even incorporating Ukiyo-e prints within their painting as a tribute to Japanese Ukiyo-e masters. From China, to Korea, to Japan wash made its’ way to America where suddenly it became also a trend, pre-war.
Today few Ukiyo-e paper makers are still living. Most papers are no longer hand made, but are manufactured by commercial paper manufacturing companies.
Shouhachi Yamaguchi in Fukui Prefecture continues the Washi tradition creating his Washi out of Mulberry. He is one of two Washi Craftsmen, national treasures, still making Echizen Kizuki Housho with a tradition of 1500 years.
There is a resurgence of interest of paper making among some young people, but the old masters have all but died off. A Canadian, Richard Bull lives and works in Japan and considered an Ukiyo-e master. He has difficulty getting real paper.
I was fortunate to be able to go through numerous portfolios of Ukiyo-e prints in Paris in 1986 and again in 1990 during studies for a minor in Asian Art History while I was getting my MFA. I worked with Dr. Penelope Mason (author of Arts of Japan) who was a student of Edward Kidder, America’s foremost japanologist, and author of numerous books published by Kodansha. Seeing and handling thousands of Ukiyo-e prints, paintings and scrolls, it became clear to me that washi, Japanese handmade paper was a diverse art, a product of deep traditions of Japanese craft guilds, secrets being handed down through careful selection and processes carefully guarded.
There was as great a diversity of hand made paper then as there is of manufactured paper now.
The manufactured papers now have no such tradition behind them, nor do they necessarily carry the weight, the heft, the glow of hand made paper, call it Washi or Rice paper, or Kozo. But it is about all we’ve got. Paper from a few paper manufacturers attempting to emulate historical handmade art.
Mark