Mitsumata paper

Japanese: 三椏紙 - みつまたがみ

Paper made from Mitsumata. Along with kozo (paper mulberry) and gampi (ganpi), Mitsumata is one of the three main raw materials for modern washi paper, and it belongs to the same Thymelaeaceae family as gampi. Although it is not as shiny as gampi, it is roughly the same length of 3 to 5 mm and produces an elegant, fine-grained paper texture. It has been thought that it was first used as a raw material for papermaking in the middle of the Ashikaga period. This is based on a history book by a descendant of Bunzaemon, who wrote that Tokugawa Ieyasu gave a papermaker from Shuzenji village an ink seal in 1598 (Keicho 3) granting him the right to cut gampi and mitsumata in Izu for use as toriko grass (raw material), and thus the origins of mitsumata paper date back much further than the Keicho period.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

ミツマタを原料とする紙。ミツマタはコウゾ(楮)，ガンピ(雁皮)と並んで，現代の和紙の代表的な3原料の一つで，ガンピと同じジンチョウゲ科に属する。ガンピほど光沢はないが，ほぼ同じ3～5mmほどの長さで，優美できめの細かい紙肌をつくる。製紙原料として用いられたのは足利時代の中葉ではないかとされてきた。それは，徳川家康が1598年(慶長3)に修善寺村の紙すき文左衛門に墨印状を渡して，鳥子草(原料)として，伊豆のガンピとミツマタの伐採権を彼に与えたという，文左衛門の子孫の由緒書によって，三椏紙の始まりは慶長よりはるかにさかのぼるとしたものである。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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