Japanese Watermarks
Japanese watermarks are thought to date back to the early years of the eighteenth century. The
technique developed in papers that were made for beauty only. Family crests and other designs were
created in mon shoin, paper made for sliding doors. The feudal
lords made sure watermarks were also in the hansatsu, or bank
notes, to prevent counterfeiting. The men who made the hansatsu were very carefully screened for
security purposes. They worked in a compound that was under constant guard. The men were required
to sign an oath of secrecy with their own blood fingerprint. Security was so tight that very little
information on the process exists today. In 1871, the National Government took over the job of making
and distributing paper money. The Bank Note Office, or Shiheiryo,
was set up to carry out this function. A Paper Manufacturing Office was established in 1876 in Tokyo
at Oji, which is now the Oji Paper Mill of the Government Printing Agency.
Until 1887, watermarks were made by the Western wire screen method, or suki-keta-ho.
This type of watermark process stopped because a ban was put into place that only allowed the government
to create light and shade watermarks. Papermakers also had to notify the government when they wanted to
make white watermarks and give reasons why they were doing so. The invention of tesuri-kako-ho,
or hand-rubbing method, came shortly after the ban in 1889. This technique allowed papermakers to
produce watermarks finer than any that had previously been done. Emperor Meiji took special interest
in these watermarks while touring the Oji Mill, and encouraged the artisans. He decorated sliding
doors in the palace with the suki-ire bijutsu-shi, or artistic
watermarked papers, so he could enjoy their beauty.
Suki-ire bijutsu-shi watermarks were first made in the size of lattice for sliding doors. Later,
artisans made these papers the size of a Japanese mat. Many designs for watermarks were created. They
included Mount Fujiyama, human figures, portraits, flowers, landscapes, and birds. Unfortunately, all
of these plates were destroyed during an air raid on April 13, 1945. Most of the papers were destroyed
in the fire as well.
These Japanese watermarks were made by the mills of the Government Printing Agency at Oji and
Saidaiji in Japan. These marks were created by a process of hand-rubbing on short fibered paper.
Tesuri-kako-ho watermarks are made by first engraving a design into a plate. After it is couched, a
wet sheet of paper is laid on the plate. A wooden frame, with a dry cotton cloth stretched across it,
is then placed on the wet sheet. Corrugated celluloid is used to rub the cloth. A finer piece of
corrugated celluloid is used to rub the paper once the cloth is removed. An orchid leaf wrapped around
a roll of dry cloth is used to do the final rubbing. Once complete, the sheet is then put between two
damp cloths. It is pressed and put on a wooden frame without the design touching the wood. A bamboo
knife is used to remove the paper from the frame when it is dry. The paper is rolled through a plate
calender after the edges have been trimmed.
Light areas of the watermark are those resting on the surface of the plate. The darker shades of the
watermark are made by the grooves in the plate, because the paper becomes thicker in these areas when
it is rubbed. A very thin, or light, shade in the watermark can be made by adding a raised area to the
plate above the surface.
Several different materials are used to make these watermarks. Copper, wood, bronze, antimony, or
celluloid can be used to make the plate. The paper that is used is made of chemical pulp and mitsumata.
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