ABSTRACT
The Japanese name for paper is Kami, and an affix to the proper name it is changed into gami, for which the Chinese word shi is often used. In this way the Japanese bark paper evinces a surprising toughness and flexibility, and combines the softness of silk paper with the firmness of a woven texture. In the manufacture of the Japanese tub or hand-made paper, the workman holds the form or scoop-net so that the parallel bamboo splinters or threads run from right to left. The smoothness, evenness, and firmness of Japanese paper is not effected by special sizing and glazing. Nevertheless each sheet has usually a rough and a smooth side. The porosity of Japanese paper unfits it, save in exceptional instances, for writing on with pen and ink; but it is well adapted to the Japanese mode of writing with brush and Indian ink, from the top of the page downward and in rows from right to left.
