HIDAKA, Kochi -- In this village by the pristine waters of the Niyodo River, a small manufacturer of Japanese paper has won global recognition by successfully using machines to produce the world's thinnest Japanese paper -- just 0.02 millimeters thick and weighing a mere 1.6 grams per square meter.

Hidakawashi Co. has attracted prestigious customers ranging from the British Museum in London to the Louvre in Paris, which utilize the ultrathin paper in the restoration of cultural artifacts.

The village of Hidaka, surrounded by streams and fields, is located about a 30-minute drive from the center of the city of Kochi, and the company, which has just 10 employees, is located on the outskirts of the village. There, a paper machine slowly draws out the ultrathin paper into rolls.

"It's difficult to produce a uniform product without holes," says company president Hiroyoshi Chinzei, 55.

The paper is durable and so thin that when it layered over documents, even detailed characters remain legible. It also resists yellowing and discoloration. Though order quantities are small, the company responds with custom-made products, and its paper has earned high trust from preservation and restoration sites across the world, as it doesn't damage the original texture of cultural assets or artworks. Now, 40% of the firm's sales are for cultural property restoration, with 90% of those sales overseas.

Tosa washi paper has been produced for over a thousand years, primarily in the Kochi Prefecture town of Ino. It is considered one of Japan's three major washi papers, alongside Echizen washi from Fukui Prefecture and Mino washi from Gifu Prefecture. Tosa Tengujo paper, which emerged in the Meiji era (1868-1912), is produced by hand and known for its thin sheets with a thickness of 0.03 to 0.05 mm. Building on this technology, Hidakawashi managed to achieve mass production of the world's thinnest Japanese paper using machines, and the company's strength is being able to keep costs down to supply products at affordable prices. In addition to the machine papermaking process, artisans painstakingly prepare the raw materials by hand.

The company was founded by Chinzei's great-grandfather in 1949. Originally, he had been making Tengujo paper and other products by hand, but he switched to machine papermaking in 1969. Chinzei, however, didn't want to take over the family business, and after graduating from high school, he went to study in the United States. After studying finance and other subjects for 6 1/2 years, he returned to Japan. He worked in fields including sales at another company, but he ended up having to take over the family business, and returned to papermaking at the age of 34. At the time, nearly all sales were for original equipment manufacturing (OEM). The company produced paper for shoji screens and fusuma sliding doors, as well as wrapping paper and other products. However, due to lifestyle changes in Japan, the number of homes without Japanese-style rooms increased, and demand for Japanese paper declined. It was then that the company hit on the idea of using its paper in the restoration of cultural properties.

At first, the company had to grope its way forward in its search for sales channels. "We created samples and mailed them to various places," Chinzei recalls. After the company was chosen to restore the Ungyo statue at the Hozomon gate of Senso-ji temple in Tokyo, the company became a supporting member of the Japan Society for the Conservation of Cultural Property. While learning from the National Archives of Japan, with its high expertise in restoration, Hidakawashi set out to develop ultrathin Japanese paper.

After their regular working hours, Chinzei and two other employees worked late into the night and other times to refine the delicate balance between the raw materials and water, the speed of the equipment and other processes through trial and error. Initially, the lightest paper they could produce weighed 3 to 4 grams per square meter, but five years later, in 2013, they successfully developed washi weighing just 1.6 grams per square meter with a thickness of just 0.02 mm. The reputation of this thin yet strong washi spread worldwide.

Putting experience to use with business overseas

Chinzei uses his past experience in overseas transactions, having created pamphlets and sample books in English. He has also gone to overseas conferences and exhibitions to promote his company's products and handles all English correspondence with clients.

The company also has the knowhow to delicately produce over 1,000 colors. With its Japanese taste and unique texture, the paper has also been adopted to decorate the interior of VIP rooms, including at the New National Stadium in Tokyo. With inbound tourism increasing, the company has been receiving a growing number of inquiries from luxury hotels about using the paper for the walls of rooms, kickstarting three new major transactions in 2023.

"In the United States, it seems we can expect demand for its use in large artworks," Chinzei says, expressing confidence in new possibilities for the Japanese paper infused with the company's unique technology.

(Japanese original by Masatoshi Maekawa, Kochi Bureau)