Distributor Naoaki Sakamoto Representative of Shiho Nao Started Shiho Nao, a paper specialty store, in Sengoku, Tokyo, in 1984. Makes his store a base for appealing paper to the world. Has a factory in Oguni-cho, Niigata Prefecture.
	Window of Interview: Date: July 15, 1996 Place: At the showroom of Shiho Nao, in Sengoku, Tokyo Although this is a room in a concrete building, all things of the room such as walls, ceiling, floor and even furniture are covered with paper casually and yet tastefully. The atmosphere of the room doesn't make us feel of concrete foundation. According to the paper authorities, Mr. Sakamoto has changed the Japanese paper market in the world, especially the market of conservation paper. Recently, he has produced“Paper Art Museum”in Oguni-cho, Niigata, where his factory is located. Adored by young staff, Mr. Sakamoto's life is glaringly vivid just like rock music. What made you start paper business? I have known Mr. Takao Hiwasaki, a printmaker, for a long time, and we cooperated in making a picture poem book named“Green Fuse” written by Dillan Thomas. As a publisher, I used an old printing machine which was in my store. Through this activity, I made acquaintances with papermakers and came to know about the status quo of paper. There were several papermakers who would have quit making paper if I hadn't bought paper from them. Therefore, when I ask them to make paper, I have to buy all of the paper they make. So, my main job is to buy paper. Photo showroom of Shiho Nao What will happen to papermaking tools if paper hasn't been made for years? Enthusiasm will solve the problem of tools. But, the situation will drastically change in the coming five to ten years, since all the toolmakers are getting old. There are first step and second step in papermaking, and now is the border on the second step. I don't use a word“Washi”because it is a lie. I use“Nihon-shi” or Japanese paper, instead. According to a dictionary, Washi has many definitions. There are many people all over the country who deal in paper under the name of Tosa Washi or tradition. I will go on saying that Washi is a dead word. You call paper by the number at your shop. If I call paper equally by the name of place where the paper was produced, ordinary people cannot tell good paper from bad one. I buy paper for the needs of customers who cannot do without a certain type of paper. Users can tell even a slightest difference between papers which laymen would think same. I think Japanese handmade paper has come to such a stage as customers specify a specific papermaker with specific methods. Such customers do exist though the number is small. All the paper I have here is exceptionally made by a specific papermakers. I never line up such common paper as is found everywhere. I make paper in Niigata, but I don't follow traditional Japanese papermaking and nobody else can make my paper. I always tell my staff that our property is not money but paper. How many papermakers of that type are there in Japan? There are about twenty in Japan. Especially I have a close connection with some papermakers in Kochi. It's not because my ancestor is from Kochi, but because their paper is great. Paper talks more than papermakers. If I see a certain paper and the place where the paper is made, I can tell in a second whether or not the paper is good. No one in Kochi really understands the true wonderfulness of Kochi. You have a repulation for an exporter of conservation paper. Although the volume is small, there are 300 to 500 customers. I can say people all over the world who engage in conservation work using paper never fail to mention our shop. A researcher examined all Japanese paper appearing on the market in America, and found our paper was made of 100 percent pure material with proper PH. The other papers, on the other hand, included pulp and Manila hemp, though they were labeled as using 100 percent pure material. As a result of this examination, our paper suddenly spread. Later, our paper was examined in the Art Museum of Philadelphea, and the paper distributed by Shiho Nao was proved excellent. This evaluation was very effective in letting people know our paper. Conservation paper is mainly made in Kochi. Of course, not all the paper made in Kochi is good. You should not grasp this small world of paper roughly. Usually many different things are put into a big whirl pool, and people outside cannot tell the difference between old-fashioned distributers and new ones because both are same to them. So, a shop like mine stops the whirl and encourages other shops to get out of it. My shop has come out of it. Unless someone separates the present situation, the truth cannot be seen. We should follow an example of Mr. Hiwasaki. Paper attracts me, because it teaches me daily and opens up my way. Everyday paper tells me the reason why I'm charmed by it. The first time I felt attracted by paper was when I found in the paper something precious, something that I don't have in me. Though I didn't realise it at that time, Togawa Senka-shi of Kochi is just like my parents. I believe I am a child of that paper. Before opening my shop, I had seen considerable number of paper and was ready 99 percent. Even without that paper, I could have started business. However, there was no paper that could be a core of my paper shop. There was no paper that could be a foundation which unites society and me. Even before the opening in March, I wasn't still able to find the ideal paper. Just then, I read about Senka-shi, which came from Ehime Prefecture and is said to have been made in the valley of the Shimanto River. I went to Kochi in February. After asking local people about this paper, I was told to visit Mr. Shiba, and there I saw the paper for the first time. From the barn Mr. Shiba took the paper, which was folded in half, tied with a rope, and was covered with dust. That was the very moment of my departure. I was born then. It's hard to explain why that paper was the one I had been looking for. It's probably because I am descended from Kochi people, and also there are various factors when I feel nostalgia. There should be some reason, but it may be subconcious. I could hardly be contented with any paper that didn't realize my ideas I got after travelling around the world. I thought my shop is a point on the earth, wherever it may be. In order to realize my global idea, I needed Togawa Senka-shi, which is fully the paper of the earth. I don't mind technique. It's enough that a sheet of paper came into me like that. Don't you feel you were invited to encounter that paper? Actually, the paper has been waiting for what I am today. It has been there for nearly 20 years, waiting for me to come. It may sound exaggerated if I say the whole paper has been waiting for you to start business. Mr. Tsukasawa, a printmaker and a pupil of Mr. Hiwasaki's, calls me a heaven-sent child of paper. He says that I will recognize the role I played when I look back upon the past later in my life. This is also just like what Hiwasaki did.

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