At the end of December last year
We had the opportunity to harvest paper mulberry trees in Aoya, the production area of Inshu washi paper!
Kozo is the fiber of a plant in the mulberry family.
The bast fibers from the branches that grow from the stump are used as the raw material for Japanese paper.
Because the fibers are well intertwined, the resulting paper is tear-resistant and very strong.
There are various processes that must be carried out before the raw material for washi paper can be used, but this time I participated in the harvesting process.
Branches that are easily taller than a person are cut using sickles and special tools.
Hold the sickle firmly and pull it diagonally with force.
Even if you are not familiar with using a sickle, you can easily cut with light force if you use a special tool.
Prune carefully to avoid staining or damaging the cut ends.
Prune as close to the base of the branch as possible, and then prune it again when it grows back.
This is a way to ensure that the branch harvested each year is in the best possible condition.
The cut ends of the cut branches should be gathered together to prevent them from touching the ground and getting dirty.
The cut branches are then cut to uniform lengths and then steamed and stripped.
Just preparing the paper for use as raw material for washi paper requires a lot of painstaking work.
I was reminded that each and every step and ingenuity contributes to the production of high-quality washi paper.
This concludes our paper mulberry harvesting report!