Profile of Founder

Akira Hirayama
Doctor of Medicine
A member of Washi Culture Study Group

After retiring from the Medical University in Tokyo, I was planning to work a few days a month in Tokyo, spending the rest of the month on hobbies and leisure doing things that I normally couldn't do. At friend suggestion, I started to visit Ishigaki Island, where I became a volunteer for a welfare facility for the disabled in Ishigaki called Washi-no-sato. However, I soon realized that they didn't make Japanese paper washi, despite the fact that the Facility was named after Japanese paper washi. After some research, I found out that Sister Kanemitu had instructed the disabled and staff in making Japanese paper, but that she had moved to Iriomote Island and had to stop instructing. However, I also learned that she was still making paper at Iriomote, so I began to visit Iriomote and leaned how to make Washi. Unfortunately, Sister fell on illness and was moved to the hospital headquarter in Kyusyu. Since I hadn't learned enough to make Washi by myself at that time, I started to visit some old Japanese paper makers and learned traditional Washi making while at the same time making washi, planting trees and becoming a medical advisor at Washi-no-sato. Because Iriomote is an isolated island, I decided to establish a mill in Ishigaki, but I couldn't find land to build. Fortunately, I was offered a studio to make washi if I would serve as president of Taiyo-no-sato, a health institution for elderly people. But I soon realized that it's not possible to hunt two hares, so I resigned. After that, I had an offer from an institution in the mainland and I went to the mayor's office to tell him that I would go back to the mainland. However, the mayor offered city-owned land, so I decided to establish this laboratory at my own expense.
Currently, while I study Washi including Aoganpi-washi scientifically and morphologically, I make Washi, mostly Aoganpi-washi, and illuminate precious and unique Aoganpi-washi invented by Yaeyama's ancestors, and I am researching the way Aoganpi fits into our modern life.

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