Le Washi is a term employed to describe the hand-manufactured paper, usually made from bark fibres, wood pulp or rice envelope. This technology was imported from China by the Buddhist monasteries in the VIII^th century for the religious tradition diffusion.
Then, the Japanese artists employed the washi for the interior decoration (sliding doors, lampshade...) and paper mill items. It is the invention of the semi-industrial technology for paper manufacturing, in the XVIII^th century, which makes the washi very popular. Then, it became an integral part of the Japanese culture. The multiplicity of textures, the reproduction of the most subtle colours make the washi essential in the art of the Japanese print and offer an international notoriety to many artists. Hokusai Katsushika (1760-1849) is very well-known in Europe for its "36 sights of the Fuji Mount" series and more especially for that which we call the "Tanagawa Wave". Many other painters fill us with like Utamaro Kitagawa (1753-1806) or Hiroshige Andô (1797-1858).