First Day

Today, July 18th of the year 2016 CE, is the first day of the course.

The first week, of the three week course, is about the binding methods, and the scroll's place in it.

It's pretty funny how humanity creates studies devoted to themselves, particularly objective studies of they've once done as part of daily life.

The book was many things, in how it aggregated pages of information into formats that not only made it easier to convey information but to also preserve itself for future use.

For traditional Japanese books, one must place them on flat surfaces, like desk, and looking at it rather than holding it in one's hands. One mustn't actually wear gloves while going through the books because wearing gloves may require exerting more force while turning pages, which increases the likelihood of tearing the pages. To minimize soiling, one must wash hands with soap before going through the books, and after especially when one has sweated. One, as a researcher, also must use one's bare hands to touch the page to know about the thickness and type of the paper used.

It seems like gloves currently dull one's tactile abilities.

One must also remove anything that could damage the books, including anything worn at the wrists. And keep the nails clean and short. Oil from dirty hands can lead to formation of mold on which insects feed.

In the Glossary section 1.4, there seems to have been many formats of binding developed over the centuries. And with the names of monks included, it seems like Buddhist monks were involved in the development of certain binding formats. Kukai himself was a civil servant and a civil engineer, one project still standing to this day.

1.5

It seems like studying old Japanese books and their binding formats history goes hand in hand with overall Japanese history, starting with the ages of history.

There was a larger variety of sizes, shapes, designs, production methods in old Japanese books not found in China or Korea. I wonder why.

I might need a notebook for this...

Physics goes into everything, including the construction of books. A binding format's success depends on one's reasonable grasp of physics.

I am just going to have to sit and stare at the screen, reading the Japanese eras, learning their names and time span. Heian is by far the longest era in Japanese history.

I've also started putting up the steps in the weeks. [1.5] is Week 1, Step 5.

I should cross-reference with Wikipedia. The Asuka period has conflicting timelines. I should just go with the one provided by the course so as to not distract from it.

1.6

I've learned some Japanese, so I know about Kanji, onyomi and kunyomi, and the Kana.

Kana means "temporary names", and 'hira' is 'simple', and 'kata' is 'section of'. Kanji was considered Mana, or "real names", and the "proper" way of writing. That's new.

1.7

Books are tools used to preserve information. In order to carry out their function, they must be made of working materials that help with their purpose. Some materials may have some drawbacks which may not make them the perfect materials, but they are still used as long as they can overall serve the function of what they're meant to do.

There are more types of paper, but mainly four are presented: mashi, choshi, hishi, and mitsumata.

Fibers may affect the texture, thickness, and sound of the paper made from the materials used. Even weight.

Hishi (beautiful paper) makes a characteristic crackling sound when turning pages made from it.

There are papers with purple and blue patterns on them, and such paper are called "cloudy paper" (uchigumori-gami) or "cloud paper" (kumo-gami). The patterns are stamped on, or are handdrawn with real gold and silver.

There is sparkling paper that was made with coating paper with glue and ground mica rock. Made from same family as kouzogami, or choshi (楮紙) . Maniaigami. Maniai means "makeshift", "substitute", and it's used as substitute for gampi paper (hishi).

There's paper with drawings, not the red lines, made with real gold and silver paints known as kindei and gindei, and they mean gold tears and silver tears. The drawings or patterns are called shitae, or underpaintings.

1.8

There are five binding formats. The latter three are codex style bindings. The third and fourth have writing on both sides of the pages.