Le waza du washi

Abstract

Traditional paper making in the village of Kurotani in the mountains north of Kyoto has been the subject of research and interviews for the past fifteen years by Y. Yonehara and, when one of us (F. Joulian) proposed an anthropographic investigation of Waza in Japan, this field seemed ideal to explore this new approach involving an artist, a designer, an anthropologist and a mangaka in the same field.was to explore, according to distinct experiences and disciplinary points of view, different types of recording techniques: notes and sound recordings, photos, videos, and drawings, in order to describe the original art of these artisans, their Waza, which is captured in the very place where the craft is practiced and in its current conditions and constraints.The article we have written is articulated with other productions (videos, photos and a drawn catalog in addition to an exhibition) that complement it using different media. It explores these particular skills from the point of view of their patrimonialization (they are classified as intangible heritage) and the positive or negative effects that this can have on the sustainability of the skills of the activity, but also in the articulation of this profession with the different sectors and other professions that it conditions and that condition it and on which we have also investigated (printing, fusuma, karakami, lanterns…). Two examples allow us to grasp the life of paper, from the tree to the object, and, through different trades, to question the articulation of different knowledge, their kinship, their segmentation or their continuity, but also to question ourselves on the material itself worked and how it brings with it, gestures, requirements and common commitments.The dialogue with this particular material, which transforms itself as it is worked, comes from the pulp of mulberry (kozo) and water, via simple instruments (cauldrons, sinks, frames, dryers) but also from subtle processual and gestural recipes. Does this dialogue with the material engage the artisans in the same bath of values, demands, and pleasures of making, conducive to the maintenance of Waza, or conversely, to circumscribing and weakening it?ill the cultural recognition and the national and international demands for this type of paper ensure the sustainability of the processes? Are the instruments or associated technical systems (steel knives, the natural glue of tororo aoi roots, the mutualization of regional knowledge by the union…), sufficiently stable and robust to keep the activity attractive for the younger generations? The Waza of washi artisans is of course also affected by these external factors, which are difficult to photograph or draw, and our “anthropographic” exploration, beyond the challenge of capturing the craft and the original gestures of the artisans, is also to express the different analytical and narrative virtues of the text, the image or the drawing, and to sketch out a true “multimedia” and scientific proposal, from the recording in the field to its public dissemination.