A friend brought me to this shop in the countryside in Japan, where the papermaker lived and worked. I saw her workshop inside and out, and the devotees who lingered lovingly over paper of all shapes, sizes, colors, textures. All hand-made.
The papermaker's legacy
there is an old lady in japan
who makes paper as heavy as lace
and as delicate as fine wood.
she steeps and rolls and presses
and slurries and drys and stirs and sleeps.
i wonder what her secrets are, as she teaches the few.
who will make the paper, the colorful paper, the beautiful paper
when the old master is gone?
alberoliformat
