Our second morning saw us picking up Marika's parents at their house for a drive to the other side of the island to visit paper making museums.

Grandfather, Saya, and Margaretta-san pose for a picture on the suspension bridge.

It was a rainy morning as we approached the suspension bridge seen from the expressway to the other side of Shikoku Island and the area of Kochi City, which is known for its paper making industry.

The view from the bridge showed off the beautiful fall colors.

At the "culture resort" of Tosa Washi Village (cour aux dons)  in  Ino Town we see a display outlining the steps to making paper.

I am invited to use the mold and deckle to make two sheets of paper by dipping the screen form into the vat of fibers.

Saya gets to make tie-dye like designs on paper at the culture resort work room.

The girls flank the wedding dress made completely of paper - probably to show the versatility and artistic potential of paper - not for someone's wedding.

At the Japanese Paper Museum at Ino Town in Kochi Prefecture,  this diorama displayed the entire historic paper making process of the local towns, Tosa and Ino.

Marika san inspects the fiber from which the paper is still made.

 

This man is stirring the fibers in the vat in preparation to dipping the screen which catches a thin layer of fiber and allows the water to drain off leaving the new sheet of paper.

I get to try my hand at hang-a or wood block printing.  I can see why it is such a valuable art form.  There's more to it than meets the eye.

"Kochi boasts a history of more than one thousand years in the field of Tosa Washi (paper) making. Beginning in the Edo
period the paper received special protection for its cultural importance. The art has been polished and refined throughout the
years in Tosa City and Inocho Town to the point where Kochi has prospered as the "Mecca of Washi". Recently new artistic
paper for Japanese paintings, wood block prints, calligraphy and crafts is being developed.
Paper made by machines is also being developed with the help of the traditional skill used in hand-made paper. The machine
made paper in made mainly for home toiletries and also for special functions. This paper is used across the country in pocket
tissues and electrolytic condensers. In 1992 local paper industries grossed 31.0 billion yen." (Quoted from:  http://www.kochi-ct.ac.jp/tourism/paper.html  )