Yanase Washi

Papermaker

Haruo Yanase took over his father’s washi paper business, Yanase Washi, a long-established family business in one of Japan’s most historic paper regions, as a young man. He is an integral member of the papermaking circle of Echizen and the annual festivities for the paper goddess Kawakami Gozen in the local Shinto shrines.

His wife Fujiko often coordinates the order processing and works in the creation of smaller paper formats and individual decorative techniques. She plays an active role in a women’s cooperative of fifteen local paper companies called Echizen Megami Kurabu (female paper/god club).

Shō Yanase, the youngest of the Yanase family’s three sons, is fully involved in the company. He belongs to an independent group of young Echizen papermakers.