Echizen Washi

 Some business people in Japan must be very busy every weekends in the evening to have a party. Recently I don't really go to any parties but the one held in the village. 

There are eleven or so groups in Otaki Town and each group holds their year end party in December inviting one person from one household.

One evening our group also held a party. I enjoyed a lot to listen to their stories. Some know very well about the history in Otaki with papermaking history. One of the member, his family is the oldest in this town. The record has been kept in one of the temples in the town since 1610s around that time when the second generation of Tokugawa Shogunate, Hidetada, started ruling the country. Before that this country had lots of civil wars. A samurai, called Nobunaga Oda, who scared lots of Japanese other samurai at that time, came over here to burn everything. Then many documents were lost then.

Also during the world war, to make paper to earn their living, people used old documents to make them into materials. 

Lots of story here. I hope the further studies about history of Otaki will be done more in the future.