It wasn’t enough to write a beautiful poem. You had to package it beautifully, too. Imagine you’re living in Kyoto of AD 970 and you want to send a message to someone. What do you do? First, you must choose the paper. Not any paper will do. It must be the “proper thickness, size, design and color to suit the emotional mood that one wished to suggest, as well as the season of the year and even the weather of the particular day.” Then you produce several drafts, experimenting with different compositions and brushes. Once satisfied with the words and the calligraphy, you fold the paper in one of
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