UNIQUE EXPERIENCE in KYOTO: Making a Notebook from Scratch! | Traditional Japanese Bookbinding

Meet Tsutomu and Yoko, a craftsman and his daughter who will be teaching us how to make a notebook from scratch in the traditional Kyoto style. We'll be stitching pages, pressing them and gluing them, and choosing our own unique covers, all made of kimono fabric. If you're a book lover like me, you're going to want to watch this. Tsutomu is a master bookbinder and has run his bookbinding studio for over 55 years. Most bookbinding shops have turned into automated factories, producing books in their thousands, but not his. In Mr. Tsutomu's studio, every single step of the binding process is meaningful and handmade, and that's what makes this experience so special. You're not just making a regular book, you're essentially making a functional work of art. But let's start from the beginning. Once we settled in at the studio, the first thing we did was choose all the materials we wanted to work with. Yoko showed us an example of a journal and asked us to choose the cover, the endpapers, the ribbon and the stitching thread. I think you can imagine which one was the most difficult to choose. That's right, the cover. Yoko spread dozens of different fabrics in front of us, and Dani chose his almost immediately. I chose the very last one. I love this one. This is beautiful. Then we chose the endpapers and ribbon color. Dani chose shiny gray endpapers and a yellow ribbon that matched the stitching on his cover. I chose a purple endpaper, and this one with a beautiful texture made of rice glue. And because I couldn't decide on the color of the ribbons, I chose two, red and purple, to match the flowers on the fabric of my cover. Yoko then started telling us a bit about her father's background as a craftsman, and how this experience was made possible. She wanted to create a unique experience for tourists that would connect them with the local culture, history and way of living. By partnering with her father, she would also be showing off his outstanding craftsmanship and giving a new life to the hundreds of kimonos they had accumulated over the years. Every single piece of fabric has a history. Dani's, for example, was given to Yoko's father by family friends. It has a yellow pattern that can only be seen if you get really close to it. Mine is inspired by Fushimi Inari, which we'll be visiting in the next episode, and it has flowers typical from that region. If I remember correctly, Dani's fabric is from the inside of a kimono, mine is from the belt. And now it's time to get to work. So Tomo started by pressing the pages and cutting a few symmetrical holes so they could later be stitched together. Then we were taught how to stitch them, although I was terrible at it. Once all the stitching and pulling was done, Tsutomo showed us how to glue the endpapers. Fun fact, the glue is made of rice and the brush is made of horse hair. The space is 2 or 3 millimeters. Endpapers are done, so now Tsutomo is using his vintage machine to trim the edges and align them so that our notebook looks as professional as possible. This machine has been part of Tsutomo's life for decades and he considers it his work companion. After making sure the pages are all aligned perfectly, he showed us how to strengthen the spine of the book with a very thin net and washi paper. We pressed our own pages and then added our ribbon markers to the spine. We then used cardboard for the structure of the cover and Tsutomo showed us how to carefully glue the fabric to the cardboard. Move down. Do the right, even space. Okay, top one line, okay? Center space, okay? Corner to corner, half cut. Side and top. Other way. Again. The air inside, that's why. It pushes out the air. And press top. And the edge first, longer side first, and then press. This is origami technique we need, so he showed me, okay? Somehow this was harder than a stitching bit for me. What's Dani being applauded? And this is the final result. Our covers are ready to be glued to the pages, but the spines are still wet, so Tsutomo needs to dry them first. This would normally happen naturally, but it would take a few hours, so we're using a dryer instead. Now it's time to finish the binding process. Under corner, this line, okay? Top space, okay? Under space, even check, okay? It's the center, okay? And wrap up, cover, wrap up. Okay, pick up, okay? Inside the paper, here, go push. Back, no space. No space, go push, okay? And top space, under space, even control, okay? We can make the line, line. Hot air, heat up, okay? Center, push down. Slowly, slowly. Top side. Slowly, slowly. And that side. And three times, right? Yoko brought us some green tea and traditional snacks, while Tsutomo made sure the binding was as perfect as it could possibly be. Now, for the finishing touches, we need to glue the end paper to the cover, and then, we have a notebook. Made from scratch, okay? Best touch, okay? Okay, start. Dani asked Tsutomo to sign our notebooks with his beautiful calligraphy skills. And that's the end of our amazing experience with Yoko and their super talented father, who taught us so much in just a couple of hours. This is one of our most cherished memories of our time in Japan, and we'll never forget it. If you're visiting Kyoto and this is something you're interested in, you have to book this experience. I've linked it down below in the description for you. If you end up doing it because of this video, do let us know and let Yoko know as well, and DM us a photo of your notebooks too. Thank you for watching, and thank you Yoko and Tsutomo for everything. See you again soon.