Mizuhiki gifts: paper cords, knots and occasions

Paper is twisted into fine cords and processed with sizing, colour and other finishes. Several cords can be arranged together in a knot. The inscription names the gift’s purpose and giver. A noshi is a separate element commonly placed at the upper right. Printed gift paper can reproduce these elements without attaching a physical cord.

Occasions and local practice

Etiquette guides commonly recommend bow-like hana-musubi for happy occasions that may recur, such as a birth, and musubi-kiri for marriage, with the wish that it happen only once. Practice varies: a Kyoto specialist describes using awaji-musubi for both celebrations and Buddhist observances. The knot’s symbolism concerns the occasion, rather than reusing a cord that has already been tied.

Recognising three knots

The illustrated forms make the distinction visible. The bow has two side loops and trailing ends. The cut knot gathers tightly at the centre with its ends pointing upward; the awaji knot interlaces into a wider centre. These shapes still need to be read together with colour and local practice.

Red-and-white or gold-and-silver cords commonly accompany celebrations, while black-and-white and yellow-and-white combinations occur in mourning and memorial gifts. A supplier’s regional map distinguishes places using black-and-white for both funerals and memorial services, places switching to yellow-and-white for memorial services, and mixed areas. Local and religious conventions affect the choice. Knot, colour and inscription therefore work together to identify the gift’s purpose; colour alone does not determine its use.

Etiquette manuals and modern gift envelopes

Orikata Tehon (1697) preserves physical wrapping examples, while Tsutsumi Musubi no Ki (1764) records ceremonial practice. Yuka Yajima’s study follows gift etiquette through Meiji girls’ schooling, the wartime market for ceremonial money envelopes and postwar ready-made gifts. Printed noshi samples from late Meiji and Taishō show simplified packaging; department stores later used sheets printed with noshi and mizuhiki to mark the occasion. The first use of printed noshi paper is not securely dated.

Iida’s shift from hair ties to mizuhiki

Production centres followed their own histories. Iida in Nagano already made motoyui, paper cords for tying hair. As hairstyles changed in the Meiji period and demand declined, makers adapted their skills to improved mizuhiki. This explains an industrial transition in Iida, rather than dating the beginning of gift cords throughout Japan.