和紙Washi (Japanese paper)

Washi (和紙) is traditional Japanese paper processed by hand using fibers from the inner bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub (Edgeworthia chrysantha), or the paper mulberry (kōzo) bush. Washi is used in many traditional Japanese arts, such as origami, shodō, and ukiyo-e. It was traditionally used to make various everyday goods like clothes, household goods, and toys, as well as vestments and ritual objects for Shinto priests and statues of Buddhas. It was even used to make wreaths that were given to winners in the 1998 Winter Paralympics. As a Japanese craft, it is registered as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.

Because it is usually tougher than Western paper made from wood pulp, washi is often used to repair historically valuable cultural properties, paintings, and books at museums and libraries around the world, such as the Louvre and the Vatican Museums, because of its thinness, pliability, durability over 1000 years due to its low impurities, and high workability to remove it cleanly with moisture.

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