Patterns are the landscapes of our prayers. I do not mean merely their superficial visual “design", but something deeper<, br> instilled with human prayers and hopes and inhabited by the kami [gods]. ––Akihiko Toto
Karakami originated from beautifully crafted decorative writing paper brought from Tang Dynasty China and adopted in Japan during the Heian Period (794-1185). The patterns and colors of this writing paper combined with the words written on them to convey the writer's profound thoughts and heartfelt wishes. Texts written on such paper were not limited to letters from one person to another. A thousand years later, the Kokin Wakashu (“Collection of Japanese Poems of Ancient and Modern Times") and the writings of the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry, inscribed on karakami made with the kirazuri (woodblock printing with mica) process, are as dazzlingly beautiful as they were in the Heian Period.