Washi

[1] Washi is generally tougher than ordinary paper made from wood pulp, and is used in many traditional arts.

Washi is also used to repair historically valuable cultural properties, paintings, and books at museums and libraries around the world, such as the Louvre and the Vatican Museums, because of its thinness, pliability, durability over 1000 years due to its low impurities, and high workability to remove it cleanly with moisture.

[6][7][8][9] The improved washi came to be used to decorate religious ceremonies such as gohei, ōnusa (ja:大麻 (神道)), and shide at Shinto shrines,[6] and in the Heian period, washi covered with gold and silver leaf beautifully decorated books such as Kokin Wakashu.

[11] Washi is produced in a way similar to that of ordinary paper, but relies heavily on manual methods.

Wet balls of pulp are mixed in a vat with water and a formation aid to help keep the long fibers spread evenly.

This is traditionally neri, which is a mucilaginous material made from the roots of the tororo aoi plant, or PEO, polyethylene oxide.