Tengujo Kashmir Japanese Paper 9g · 5 Sheets per pack

Japanese Tengujo Kashmir Paper 9 g/m² — reinforcement and facing, with published treatment at this weight

The Tengujo Kashmir (ART. 502) is an intervention paper of 9 g/m², machine-made, 100% manila hemp, with pH 6.7 declared by CTS and a sheet of 480 × 940 mm. It is not kozo: “tengujo” designates a class of paper by weight, not a fibre, and there is tengujo made from abaca and tengujo made from kozo. And a note on the name: plain “Kashmir” is a different paper in the same catalogue, at 11 g/m² and pH 6.8. If you work at 9 g/m², yours is ART. 502.

What is it used for?

CTS publishes no declared use for this item. The following are documented in Conservation-Restoration (C&R) literature and are cited as such: the first three, in treatments published at exactly 9 g/m²; the last two, with low-weight Japanese paper — those sources do not state a weight.

• Mending tears and losses in archival documents — at 9 g/m², with highly refined raw wheat starch. Published case: restoration of the Book of Laws approved by Alfonso XI (1347), Toledo Municipal Archive — IPCE (Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural de España), 2023.
• Facing of paint layer on canvas — at 9 g/m² and under this exact name, with extra-fine rabbit skin glue. Published case: an Allori of 484 × 630 cm at the Medici Chapels, Florence — Getty, Conserving Canvas, chap. 11.
• Flattening canvas deformations during facing — the source attributes this to two things at once: the moisture added by the aqueous adhesive and the slight tensioning from the contraction of the Japanese paper as it dries. Documented in that same facing treatment, which also secures the perimeter sheets to the board to prevent the whole from shrinking as it dries.
• Fills to even out thickness on paper works — “Fills made of layers of Japanese paper to even out the thickness of the fill with the original paper support, adhered with a mixture of wheat starch and methylcellulose.” The source works with low-weight Japanese paper and does not state a weight. Source: CNCR (Centro Nacional de Conservación y Restauración, Chile).
• Lining of fragile supports — with low-weight Japanese paper and methylcellulose. Source: CNCR.

Why choose the Tengujo Kashmir 9 g/m²?

• It is the weight in our range with published treatment at that exact weight — the tear and loss mending of the Book of Laws of Alfonso XI (IPCE, 2023) and the facing of the Allori at the Medici Chapels (Getty, Conserving Canvas). A needed precision: the Getty case also works under this exact name; the IPCE case only states the weight, and neither one states the fibre of its sheets.
• Specification declared by CTS — 9 g/m², pH 6.7, 100% manila hemp and a sheet of 480 × 940 mm.
• Machine-made (M/M Machine made, declared by CTS).
• Abaca —the botanical equivalent of manila hemp— and kozo do not behave the same: kozo fibre is longer (10 mm average, range 6–20 mm) than abaca (6 mm average, range 2–12 mm), and the University of Melbourne attributes to that length the high strength of paper containing kozo (Oriental Papermaking Fibres).
• Against the other tengujo papers in the range, weight is the deciding factor — the Tengujo 6 g, this Tengujo Kashmir 9 g and the Bib Tengujo 12 g are all 100% manila hemp as declared by CTS, with pH from 6.7 to 7.1. Tengujo 6 g for reinforcement that must not be visible on the work; this 9 g one for mending tears and losses and facing of paint layer; Bib Tengujo 12 g when a bit more body is needed, and the only one in the range with pH above 7 (7.1, declared by CTS); and the heaviest Tengujo in the published range for fills where thickness is needed.

Limits — where it should not be used, and what cannot be claimed

• It is not a load-bearing support. It is not suitable for relining or as a secondary support: no source documents this. What is published at exactly 9 g/m² is reinforcement by mending tears and losses, and facing of paint layer; lining appears in the literature with low-weight Japanese paper, with no weight stated. Structural work requires another solution.
• It is not permanent paper under ISO 9706 —ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization, the international standards body—. In the 1994 edition, which we have read in full and which is superseded by ISO 9706:2025 (whose values we have not been able to verify), the standard requires an aqueous extract with pH between 7.5 and 10.0, and the pH declared by CTS is 6.7. It is a standard for document paper, not for intervention paper.
• The alkaline reserve is not declared. CTS states neither that it has one nor that it lacks one.
• We cannot claim suitability for direct contact with photographs. That suitability is certified by the PAT (Photographic Activity Test) under ISO 18916, and CTS does not declare it for this paper. The standard also covers only silver gelatin processes —and, with variants, chromogenic and diazo—; iron-based processes such as cyanotype fall outside its scope.
• Reversibility comes from the adhesive, not the paper. CTS does not declare reversibility of the paper.
• Plain “Kashmir” is a different paper in the same catalogue: 11 g/m² and pH 6.8. If you ask for “Kashmir” without the weight, you are not asking for this one.

Packaging and storage

• Packaging: pack of 5 sheets, sheet of 480 × 940 mm each.
• Storage: CTS does not declare storage conditions for this item. Storing it flat, dry and away from direct light is workshop practice, not a supplier specification.
• Shelf life: Not declared by CTS.
• Sheet colour: Not declared by CTS.
• It carries no hazard classification and is not accompanied by a safety data sheet (SDS): it is a cellulose article, not a chemical substance or mixture.

Distributed by CTS — ART. 502, code R1400128. CTS is the distributor; the Japanese manufacturer is not identified in any public source. The specification values in this listing —weight, pH, fibre, sheet format and machine manufacture— are those declared by CTS.

Frequently asked questions

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