JAPANESE BINDING

We want to share with you some knowledge about traditional bookbinding technique — Japanese binding. We think that it is very important to keep alive the old handicraft and reinvent it for contemporary design. Japanese binding is definitely one of them.

Japan inherited from China all the essential elements for book production. The earliest form of Japanese book, modeled after Chinese style, consisted of lengths of silk or paper wound into the shape of a handscroll. This book called “kansubon” was the dominant form for nearly a thousand years after its introduction in about the fifth century. Along with this method various “stitching” techniques evolved. One of them is four-hole binding which is the most useful to remember because it constitues the model on which the other styles are based.

Traditional Japanese book starts with paper called “washi” which is paper made of rice plant fibers. It is very thin and therefore the sheets are usually folded in half. As soon as the book block is collected there is “inner binding” executed which strengthens the book. Inner binding is done with twisted strings of strong Japanese paper “koyori” that are threaded through holes, tied once and pounded flat. Then the corner pieces called “kadogire” are attached to the head and foot of the spine. Corner pieces are usualy made of cloth and lend a book an appearance of dignity and quality. A variety of threads and cords are used in Japanese bookbinding, including flat cord, silk bookbinding thread, silk buttonhole thread, unbleached hemp thread, and natural hemp fiber. The four holes are drilled into the book and the visible stitching is executed with thread or cord using needle.

Japanese binding is usualy simplified nowadays and some of the production steps can be produced by machines. But most of the core parts have to be executed by skilled hands. The last photo shows how we can make tailored japanese notepads in our HAPTIC COVERS production.