Kirigami

How paper was used for ancient documents. Paper the size of a normal document is called tategami, and kirigami is paper cut vertically or horizontally. Formal documents are always written in tategami, but kirigami is used for simple or private documents, or when many documents are issued at once, such as receipts for taxes, or the distribution of tiered and municipal coins. During the Warring States period, the traditional system of issuing documents collapsed, and kirigami of various shapes came to be used as paper for documents, which became even more common during the Edo period. Among kirigami, paper that is less than a quarter of the size of normal paper is called kokirigami, and from around the Northern and Southern Courts period, it was used for military-related documents such as military summonses and letters of appreciation. This is generally called a "motodori no fumi" (a letter on the topknot), or in the case of a rinji (a letter of imperial decree), a "motodori no rinji" (a letter in the topknot), and it is said that secret envoys would carry it hidden in their topknots so as not to be noticed by the enemy.

[Ueshima Yu]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

古文書の料紙の使い方。普通の文書の大きさの料紙を竪紙(たてがみ)といい、それを縦あるいは横に適当に切ったものが切紙である。正式な文書は、必ず竪紙に認(したた)めるが、簡単なものや私的なもの、あるいは年貢の請取(うけとり)、段銭(たんせん)・棟別銭(むねべちせん)の配符など、一度に多数の文書が発給される場合に用いられる。戦国時代になり、従来の文書発給の体系が崩れるとともに、いろいろな形の切紙が文書の料紙として用いられ、江戸時代になるとさらにそれが一般化する。切紙のうちで、普通の料紙の4分の1以下のものをとくに小切紙(こきりがみ)といい、南北朝期頃から、軍勢催促状や感状などの軍事関係の文書に用いられた。これは一般には髻の文(もとどりのふみ)、綸旨(りんじ)の場合には髻の綸旨(もとどりのりんじ)と呼ばれ、敵に気付かれぬように密使が髻の中に隠して運んだといわれる。

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