Paper People – Making clothing from paper in Japan

Though the exact date is unknown, for many generations artisans in Japan have made a form of clothing called kamiko (紙衣 or 紙子) from sheets of washi (Japanese paper 和紙). These garments are produced by wrinkling, softening, and strengthening sheets, which are then fused, stitched or folded together. During the Edo Period (1603-1868), the production of kamiko reached its peak and was made by craftspeople throughout the archipelago but today, only a few communities of aging craftspeople still hold the knowledge required to produce garments from sheets of handmade paper. The practice of making kamiko by hand is now rare.  

This EMKP project documents kamiko making at two sites in Japan: Shiroishi (白石), a town in Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture, and Tōdaiji (東大寺), the head temple of the Kegon Buddhist sect, located in Nara Prefecture. In Shiroishi, local craftspeople, historians, and community centre staff generously shared their memories, skills, and local family histories relating to paper and paper clothing. Fieldwork in Shiroishi took place in 2020, involving participant observation, interviews, and recording of historical documents. Data gathered from this site and its community includes historical documents from archives and recordings of interviews and techniques. At Tōdaiji, kimono made from paper are made to be worn in the Shūni-e, which happens once a year. In Nara, different communities shared their knowledge, including monks that wear the paper kimono, and those kimono experts and educators involved in applying cloth to the roll of paper, and who oversee the production of paper kimono worn by the monks. Fieldwork at Tōdaiji took place in 2020 and 2023 and involved interviews and recording photographic data. Data from this group includes imagery provided by Tōdaiji that shows the process of turning a sheet of paper into a form that makes it suitable to make a roll to be used to make paper kimono.  

In addition to data gathering at Shiroishi and Tōdaiji, a crucial aspect of this project involved knowledge transfer and exchange. Relationships emerging from fieldwork in 2020 eventually led to exchanges between school students and papermakers. In 2021 and 2022, students at Sayō High School in Hyōgo Prefecture studying home economics learned to make washi from a hand papermaking association called Kaita Washi. In 2023, I was invited by Sayō High School to speak about kamiko and the EMKP project. Students from the school contributed photographs and other records of their experiences making paper to the dataset.