GOTO (Seikichiro).
Nihon no kami: nishi nihon: Japanese Hand-Made Paper (Western Japan)
A superb production that delves into traditions of paper-making in the western region of Japan. This book is as much a research piece as it is Goto’s artistic expression of his love of washi.
The book is organised by prefecture and covers 16 prefectures in the west of Japan that are known for paper-making. These are indicated with a small vignette illustration alongside the name of the prefecture in the top right corner of the page. What follows is a dedicated piece on each of the focused paper-making villages within those prefectures. Each village is illustrated with a katazome print by Goto, and some include a small paper sample so readers can gain a sense of the look and feel of the local papers.
Like many of Goto’s books, the Japanese text is accompanied by an English translation. Goto was particularly keen for the beauty of Japanese papers to be communicated to an audience outside of Japan. One admirable use of this book would be to follow Goto’s footsteps around the west of Japan and visit each of the paper-making villages.
