Iâm going to make washi.1 My circumstances have finally come together to let me do that. On top of that, itâs not something Iâm going to make, but something that Lutz is going to make for me. As a step forward in his job search, of course. Right now, Iâm soaring, like a figure skater leaping in the air to spin in a full circle⌠no, a circle and a half!
Donât you dare snark about the idea of me jumping! Itâs hard in this body!
âEheheheh. Heheheh.â
âMaine, Iâm glad youâre in a good mood, but⌠youâre kinda getting a little too excited! Arenât you going to get sick again?â
âItâs not like I can help it! Weâre going to make paper, you know? We can actually make paper, you know? And, if we make paper, then I can make books! Woohoo!!â
Now that books are finally almost in my grasp, how could I possibly not get excited? As I make my way home, practically jumping with every step, Lutz lets out a sigh, like heâs at his witsâ end.
ââŚMaine, sure, weâre going to make it, but⌠how exactly are we going to do that? I definitely have no idea. Are we going to need tools? Can we really actually do this?â
Sighing, Lutz grumbles out his objections. In an instant, I come crashing back down to the real world.
âŚThatâs right. It we donât make all of the tools ourselves, we have nothing!
Iâm pretty sure I know the process for making washi. I even remember the names of all the tools we need. However, when it comes to making those tools, I might have read a few books about the sorts of things those obsolete craftsmen used, but I canât actually remember the fine details. If I donât have the tools, I wonât be able to make any paper.
âŚWhoa, our first step is to make the tools, huh⌠Immediately starting to make paper seems pretty impossible. Aaargh, once again, my modern knowledge just isnât quite good enough!
ââŚHey, Maine. You just got really quiet. Donât tell me that, after all of that, you canât actually make it?â
Lutz has a look of extreme worry on his face, so I emphatically shake my head.
âDonât say that! I definitely know how to make paper. Itâs something Iâve been wanting for a very long time. But, I donât have the strength to cut up enough wood, I still donât know how to use fire, and I canât crush the fibers like I need to. I couldnât ask you to make it for me before, because that would have been too selfishâŚâ
âI told you I was going to help you out, so I would have been fine with thatâŚâ
Lutz pouts, looking a little bit chagrined. Iâm happy heâs so willing to help, but making paper is going to be very physically intensive work. Itâs going to be on a level far above helping me dig up some clay or helping me cut some wood down to size.
âUm, Lutz, all I can do is teach you how to do it. Itâs not like the things weâve been doing before, where I can do them myself but you helped me out, this is going to be something where you do everything by yourself, from the very start to the very end. Do you still want to do it, if itâs like that?â
âOf course. I told you: you come up with things, Iâll make them.â
Lutz immediately nods his head, but I need more confirmation. I canât help but think that he might be getting carried away.
âThatâs the thing, Lutz. We have to start all the way back with making the tools first. Can you stick with that?â
ââŚYouâll be helping too, right?â
âOf course, Iâll do whatever I can!â
As I say that, I start thinking. Even when weâre just getting started making the tools, Iâm going to have to figure out what kind of tools weâre going to need to make the tools. While Iâm at it, I should try searching my house for anything we could use as a substitute. I might make my mother mad again, but weâre going to have no choice but to find substitutes for anything that we donât have the wherewithal to make ourselves.
âIâm going to write down a list of all the tools we need, and try looking for things we can use for those. If I canât find any, weâre going to have to make them, though⌠Lutz, Iâd like you to search for wood that we can use to make paper.â
âWe can find all the wood we need in the forest, right?â
âThatâs true, but I donât know what kind of wood is suitable for making paper.â
I know that plants like the paper mulberry, Oriental paperbush, or ganpi are suitable for making washi, but I donât know what trees in this world would make good paper.
âUmmm, so, wood that would be easy to use in paper would have long, durable fibers. Theyâd need to be sticky, too, and easy to bond together, and weâd need to be able to extract a lot of them⌠and so on, but I donât actually know how exactly to spot what kind of tree has long, durable fibers.â
On top of that, a paper mulberryâs wood is only suitable if itâs less than a year old. I remember reading that after two years the fibers start to stiffen and become very difficult to use for making paper.
However, I canât tell if a tree is one or two years old just by looking at it.
ââŚYouâre telling me to do something complicated like that, but I donât know how to do it either.â
âI guess youâre right. For now, I know that thereâs soft wood and hard wood, but wood is softer when itâs younger, right?â
âAnd then it gets harder as it gets older, yeah.â
Lutz, having more experience than me, knows much more about wood than I do after all. For me, every kind of wood is difficult to cut, but Lutz knows what kinds of wood are easy or hard for him to cut, so it seems he can tell the difference between the softer and harder woods.
âWell, thereâs paper we could make that uses either bamboo or bamboo grass, and thereâs pros and cons to doing that, but for now, since I think we can make paper out of other kinds of vegetation, we should probably focus on a paper thatâs the easiest to make for now, right? Plus, if weâre going to commoditize this, thatâs all the more reason that we need to pick a wood thatâs easy to use.â
âHuhâŚâ
Lutz nods slightly, mumbling to himself about woods that might be easy to use.
âIf we can find one, it would be even better if we could find trees that we could cultivate, so we could make acquiring the raw materials even easier, but we donât know what kinds of trees are easy to cultivate, right?â
âNo, trees that are and arenât easy to grow are pretty different. Thereâs definitely trees that can be easily grown.â
âReally?!â
I gnash my teeth at how low Maineâs XP total is after having never gone outside. Iâve only been able to go out to the forest since a month ago. I canât even cut any wood right now, let alone pick what kinds of wood we should be using.
âAlright, Iâll leave finding the wood to you, Lutz. I want to test a lot of different types and compare their pros and cons, so try coming up with a few kinds of soft-ish wood. After that⌠I want to find some âsunset hibiscusâ.â
âWhat the heck is that?â
âThe thing Iâm thinking of is the root of that tree, but I donât know if thereâs anything like that around here. What I want is a tree that has a goopy, sticky sap⌠a fruit would do too, I guess. Do you know of any?â
Lutz ponders for a moment, but nothing seems to come to mind immediately.
âNoâŚ, I donât think so.â
âWeâre going to be using it as a glue to stick the plant fibers together, so there has to be something.â
âIâll try asking someone who knows a lot about the forest.â
âAlright, then! Iâll go and work on remembering the process and writing down all the tools weâll need to make it happen. After that, Iâll start figuring out how weâre going to make everything.â
By the time weâve finished laying out what weâre each going to be doing next, weâve arrived back at my house.
âWeâre here,â says Lutz. âAlright, letâs do our best!â
âYeah!â
Just making paper seems daunting, but the work of developing a prototype that could actually be turned into a salable good looks like it will require a lot of patient work. As soon as I returned home, I went straight for my slate. What I need to do now is try my best to remember the entire process involved in making washi and write out a list of all the tools I think weâll need.
The first step of the process is to harvest the trees or plants that weâll use as raw materials. Lutz has a knife thatâs kind of like a machete, so we donât need anything else in particular here. Right, next step.
When using paper mulberry, you need to steam the dark-colored bark off of the wood first, I think. If thatâs the case, weâll need a steamer. Since I havenât seen our family use a steamer, if we happen to have one in the kitchen, Iâll be able to borrow it. I quickly search through the kitchen, but donât find anything. Well, I havenât tried to drag out any steamed recipes yet, so itâs no surprise that we donât have a steamer. I add 'steamerâ and âpotâ to the list on my slate. Right, next step.
When the wood is steamed, we immerse it in cold water, then immediately skin off the outer bark while the wood is still hot. In other words, itâll be best if we donât have to go far from where we do the steaming to the river, but since we already have knives, we donât really need any other tools. Right, next step.
Neither letting everything fully dry out nor stripping off the white bark after exposing it to the river for a day requires any particular tools. Since we have a knife, we can make do. Right, next step.
Then, we boil the white bark with ash, making it soft, then remove the excess. In other words, we need a pot and some ash. We can use the same pot that we needed in order to do the steaming, but getting the ashes is going to be difficult. Iâm pretty sure my mother isnât going to give me any, and I donât know if boiling the wood will produce ash in a sufficient quantity. I add âashâ to the list on my slate. Right, next step.
Then, we expose it to the river for over a day again in order to remove all of the ash, then leave it out in the sun to whiten it. Then, we remove all of the chips and knots. This is, generally, all physical labor. We donât particularly need any tools here. Right, next step.
Then, we beat the fibers until they have a consistency like cotton. Here, weâll need some sort of rectangular timber that we can use for that. We should be able to make this out of either fresh wood or firewood. I add ârectangular timberâ to the list on my slate. Right, next step.
Next, we thoroughly mix the beaten fibers with water and the sunset hibiscus sap, then spread the resulting pulp on a special frame and let the water drain out. Mixing everything together will need a bucket, tub, or some other kind of bowl. After that comes the wooden frame with a removable bamboo mat, called a suketa, weâll need in order to spread everything out. I think our suketa is going to be our number-one problem. I add âtubâ and âpaper frameâ to the list on my slate. Right, next step.
Then, we remove the mat from the frame, then transfer the drained paper to a drying bed. We let these stacks of paper dry on their own for a full day. I add âdrying bedâ to the list on my slate. Right, next.
After that, we slowly apply pressure to the paper using either weights or a clamp to wring the last of the water out. After pressure is applied, we leave everything as-is for another full day, by which point the stickiness from the sunset hibiscus sap will have completely disappeared. I wonder what we could use for weights? Certainly, thereâs the big stone weight we use for pressing oil, but is Lutz able to use that? For now, I just add âweightsâ.
When weâre finished pressing the paper, we carefully peel it from the stacks on the drying bed one at a time, then stick it to another board. I add âflat boardâ to my list.
Then we let it dry in the sunlight, remove it from the board when itâs dry, and then weâre finished.
âHmmm, now that Iâm thinking everything out, weâre going to need a lot of things, huhâŚâ
The things we need: steamer, pot, rectangular timber, ash, tub, paper frame, drying bed, weights, and a flat board. Also, the raw wood and the sunset hibiscus sap.
Iâve seen photos and illustrations of the process, so I can generally remember how everything fits together, but since Iâve never actually done it for myself, I donât know any of the finer details. In our pulp, for example, what ratio of fibers to water to sap are we going to need? However, I recall watching a TV show where a particularly un-pop-idol-like pop idol went to a rural village and made some paper, and if a pop star can do it, then thereâs no way that I canât do it too.
I need to remember more details about that program. Memory, do your best! âŚWell, hmm, that pop idol⌠was borrowing someone elseâs tools, right? She didnât have to make her own? And she had someone guiding her through the process, didnât she? Rrrrrrgh.
Itâs not just like I only have theoretical knowledge. I have indeed personally made paper before: in home economics class once, we made a sheet of recycled paper the size of a postcard out of a milk carton. I think itâs better than nothing at all, but itâs certainly not something I can actually rely on.
For now, letâs try taking on the production of a postcard-sized sheet. Itâll be easier to build the tools at a small scale as well, and when weâre experimenting with different kinds of wood, small batches are better to make than large.
âSo, Lutz,â I say, âhow about we start making the steamer first?â
In Chinese cooking, they use a round wooden basket to steam food. Making something like that would be very difficult, but making a four-sided wooden box shouldnât be quite so hard. I sketch out the design on my slate and show it to Lutz.
âMaking it should be really simple, but do you have any nails?â
âUh?! Canât you⌠put notches in the wood and join them together with those?â
âWhat are you talking about?â
Making the tools has hit a snag. We donât have the tools we need to make the tools.
We may be able to cut wood to size, but we donât have nails. Plus, nails here are not priced such that a child could buy them if they decided they wanted to use some. Plus, although we have the tools to cut wood, we donât have any of the smaller implements weâd need for any fine work.
It would be great if I could just borrow my dadâs tools, carve out some joints, and put everything together like an old-school carpenter, but thereâs no way I have enough knowledge of that kind of skilled labor to actually make use of it. Incidentally, although Lutz can do many things for me if I just give him an explanation, I canât call any of it skilled labor.
Nails are something people use in their day-to-day life, so thereâs no way we wouldnât be able to go to a hardware store and just buy them. The problem is our purchasing power. All of our options are suddenly closed.
âWhat are we going to do, Maine?â
âUm, Iâll consult with Otto. Heâs familiar with things like market prices and tradesmen, so I might be able to get nails if I help outâŚâ
Since I canât even do any labor for my family, I have no choice but to go to the one place where someone will actually pay me for my efforts.
The next day, I go to the gates and ask Otto about it.
âMister Otto, I have a question⌠Um, do you know how much nails tend to cost? Also, if you know a tradesman that sells them cheaply, Iâd really appreciate it if you could introduce me to themâŚâ
ââŚWhy nails? I donât think youâre going to be able to make use of them, Maine.â
Thatâs right. I donât have enough strength to actually use a hammer.
For someone who used to ask for slate pencils and ink to suddenly start asking for nails must be incomprehensible to him. As he tilts his head to the side in wonder, I sigh, then start to explain.
âI want to start making the tools Iâll need to make paper, but I donât actually have the tools Iâll need to make those tools.â
âAhahahahahaâŚ!â Otto bursts into laughter, slapping the table as he laughs wildly.
âItâs not funny!â I say, pouting at him. Of course, just the other day, I harshly declared to Benno that I was absolutely going to make it by spring, so for me to immediately turn around and say that I canât even start on the tools might actually be really hilarious. For me, however, itâs a really serious matter.
Otto wipes a tear from his eye as he calms down, a wide grin spreading across his face. I can clearly see that this is the slightly menacing smile of a calculating merchant. As he chuckles pleasantly at me, Iâm suddenly very much on my guard.
âIf you teach me how to make whatever it is you put in your hair, how about I finance your nail purchases?â
The value of what heâs asking for does not at all match what heâs offering. This is an absurdly huge ripoff. If Otto were to then let that information slip to Benno, then I would lose one of my most important cards that I could use against him. The price of that is far too high.
ââŚJust for some nails, I canât tell you how to make it. When I think about Bennoâs reaction the other day, I think it might be something very profitable.â
ââŚYouâve got good eyes,â he mutters, with the tiniest gleam of admiration in his eyes.
As I stall with a vague sort of answer, I frantically start to think. Iâve got no other rope to cling to besides Ottoâs, so if I lose him, Iâve got nothing. I have to come to some sort of compromise here.
âŚWhy would Mister Otto be so interested in my simple all-in-one shampoo?
Otto, unlike Benno, is not a merchant. Therefore, I donât think he wants to bring it to market as a new commodity. It might make sense if he wanted to get Benno indebted to him.
âŚOtto is a comparatively neat person, but he doesnât seem to be the type to care enough about his appearance that heâd go to the trouble of making something just for it. If I really had to say it, the people whoâd want to do that would be women⌠his wife?! Is it his wife?!
ââŚMister Otto, itâs too much for me to tell you how to make it, but if you wanted to exchange goods, Iâd be okay with that.â
âYeah?â he says, raising his eyebrows a little bit.
Based on his look of interest, it seems like learning my methods might not actually be the important thing here. I fix my gaze on my tiny chance of victory and take another step forward.
ââŚUmmm, thatâs right. I can teach Miss Corinna how to use it, and show her how to make her hair smooth and glossy. I could just give you the product, but it would be useless without the instructions, so thatâs what I can offer you.â
âSounds good to me. Itâs settled, then!â
Otto nods in agreement, looking like he didnât even give it a second thought. I had thought that bringing up Corinna would be my most effective move, but I didnât think that such a simple thing would take me quite that far.
âWell then,â he says, âcome over to my house on my next day off. Letâs make the exchange then, alright?â
âAlright!â
Just like that, it was decided that Iâd bring my simple all-in-one shampoo to Ottoâs house on his next day off, then play beautician (a shampoo-only beautician) for the day.
I breathe a little sigh of relief at having somehow managed to secure some nails, but my own stock of shampoo is already almost entirely gone. On top of that, because this shampoo is a consumable good if you canât make more of it, from now on itâs very likely that Otto will insist on making more trades in the future.
âYeah, Iâm going to get some in exchange for giving Otto some âsimple all-in-one shampooâ, but⌠I donât have much of it left. Would you mind helping me make some for me today?â
âSure, sounds good.â
Better yet, if I make a little more of it to put aside, why couldnât I use it as a source of additional fundraising?
âIf we had a little more time, we could gather melil to use for this, but in this season, rio is the best fruit for it.â
Lutz and I gather rio fruit from the forest, then go back to my place to squeeze the oil out of it. Lutz still canât use the big stone weight to press it down, so we smash it out with a hammer. I take the freshly-squeezed oils and throw various herbs in one by one.
âHmmm!â says Lutz. âThatâs really simple to make, isnât it?â
âThatâs right. The important part of this is the kind of oil you use and the kinds of herbs you mix it with. So, Lutz, even if weâre going to be selling the finished product in exchange for the things that we want, we can never show anyone how itâs made.â
âWhy?â
âSince itâs so simple, once you show someone how to do it, they can make it themselves, right? You wonât be able to trade with them ever again, you know?â
âAh, okay! I get it.â
I take a portion of the completed shampoo, put it in a somewhat small container, and hold it out for Lutz. He looks down at it dubiously, head tilted to one side.
âI donât need any, though? Maine, youâre the one getting money and buying things, so you should hold onto that.â
âThis is your share after making it, Lutz. How about you use it to make Mrs. Carla happy? Hasnât she been pestering you about what you did to your hair?â
After I made Lutzâs hair look good to prepare for his interview with Otto, his mother started persistently assaulting me with questions. I havenât met her since then, so Iâm sure that sheâs turned her questioning on Lutz.
âOh, thanks a bunch! Youâre a lifesaver, Maine.â
With a happy look, he takes the container from me. I grin broadly at him, imitating Ottoâs smile.
âMrs. Carla is a very forceful woman, so you have to make sure that you donât let her get the secret of how to make it out of you. This is good practice for giving someone something without telling them how it was made. When we become merchants, weâre going to have a whole lot of things that weâre going to need to keep secret, after all.â
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ââŚI really want to practice on something easier, thoughâŚâ he says, smiling dejectedly.
I still donât have those nails in hand. The road to washi will be a long one.
* * *
Translatorâs notes for this chapter:
1. Washi is a kind of paper that was made in Japan, using primarily manual methods.