A scene early in Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book is shot in a small publishing house and shows the various tasks of Japanese bookbinding. It always fascinates me because I love the details of any craft, but especially bookbinding. Actually my first job out of college was working in a small bookbinding factory in Austin. I've always thought that someday I'd like to make books and paper, but this time by hand.
In 1931, Kojiro Ikegami married into a family of famous bookbinders and was adopted to carry on the family business. After WWII he repaired books that had been designated Japanese national treasures, and later did conservation work at the Tokyo National Research Institute of Cultural Properties and the Tokyo National Museum. In 1979, he published ほんのつくりかた (How to Make Books) to share his "techniques and knowledge of Japanese bookbinding in hopes this will encourage the reader to try his own hand at the craft." In 1986 it was translated into English as Japanese Bookbinding: Instructions from a Master Craftsman and is now in its ninth English printing.
The thin volume begins with color photographs of the different types of Japanese books: accordian books, flutter books, butterfly books, bound books, multi-section books, and accounting ledger and receipt books. Then there is a short history of each style and a discussion of tools and materials used. The chapters on technique have short, clear instructions with step-by-step black and white photographs in addition to detailed line drawings.
After reading it, I got out a little four-hole bound book I'd bought in Japan years ago and examined its details. I now understand why each page is folded double (because this type of Japanese paper is suitable for writing only one side), which way the grain of the paper runs, and noticed (for the first time) the decorative corner paper attached to the head and the foot of the spine. Even if I never make my own book, I'm glad I read Japanese Bookbinding just so I could see with clearer eyes.
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
April 15, 2004
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Book Review: Japanese Bookbinding, Instructions from a Master Craftsman.
Kojiro Ikegami. 1979. (English edition 1986.)