The town of Ogawa in Saitama Prefecture is about an hour and 20 minutes by train from Ikebukuro, the main terminus in Tokyo's northern business district. Many people preferring to live away from the bustle of the city make the daily commute to Tokyo f rom Ogawa. Both Ogawa and the neighboring village of Higashi Chichibu have a long tradition of producing washi, or paper molded by hand in the Japanese style. Many different types of washi are produced in this area, of which one of the best known is Hoso kawa-shi (Hosokawa paper). The name comes from the village of Hosokawa in the old province of Kii (modern-day Wakayama Prefecture), where the paper was produced in ancient times. Demand for this paper in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) grew rapidly during the Edo period (1603-1867), and locations closer to the city started to produce it as well, Hosokawa paper was favored for its superior strength, and the Edo merchants used it for keeping their accounts. The city of Edo was very prone to fires, but even if his house and shop were lost in a fire a merchant could save his precious record of accounts by throwing it into a well; the tough Hosokawa paper would survive the soaking intact.
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