Wax paper - wax paper

Japanese: 蠟箋 - ろうせん

A type of decoration for paper, this paper has designs expressed with shiny lines that look like they have been painted with wax. It is commonly believed that wax was rubbed onto the paper, but if that were the case, ink should not get on the lines of the design. Considering that all old wax paper takes ink well, it is thought that the paper was placed on a woodblock with a carved design, and the paper was rubbed from above with something like a ball or a fang to rub the design out. This technique is very similar to the method used for karakami, in which mica is imprinted with a woodblock onto paper coated with whitewash (guhiki), and there are also cases where karakami and wax paper were made using the same woodblock (in which case the left and right sides of the design are reversed).

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

料紙の装飾の一種の蠟を塗ったような光沢のある線で文様が表現された紙。通説では蠟をこすりつけたものとされるが，それでは文様の線の上に墨がのらないはずである。古い蠟箋はいずれも墨付きが良好である点からみて，文様を彫った版木の上に紙をのせ，上から玉や牙のようなもので紙面を摩擦して，文様をこすり出したものと考えられる。この技法は，胡粉を塗った(具引き)紙に，版木で雲母を刷り込んだ〈からかみ(唐紙)〉の手法とよく似ており，同一の版木を使って〈からかみ〉と蠟箋を作ったものもある(その場合，文様の左右は逆になる)。

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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