An Old Recycled Kimono Wrapping Paper: Woodblocked Pages and Images

late nineteenth century
28" x 28 1/2", 71 cm x 72.5 cm

This is a square-shaped paper wrapper which has been created by gluing together recycled sheets of mulberry based paper which were recycled from what appear to be a wood block printed book.

This type of wrapping paper is referred to as a tatoushi. 

It was used to wrap and store kimono at a shop in Meiji era Japan. There is evidence of this from the central "diamond" shape of creasing and wear which is easily seen on the reverse, "plain" side of the paper details of which accompany this post. 

It is really fun to examine the fragments of printed papers used to create this tatoushi.

You can see images of clothing, kimono and objects imprinted on the fragments, not noticeable at first but then hard to miss once you detect them. Some of these images are detailed on the photos attached.

A wonderful, good-looking old tatoushi with a good deal of visual interest on its surface.

(please note that this tatoushi if folded in quarters. For shipping purposes it will be carefully and gently bent over itself to fit into the shipping parcel.)