The Musashi country, current Saitama prefecture, has long paper making history since the 7th century. Although there were many villages for Washi production, at this moment the area of Ogawa and Higashi-Chichibu are remains.
In the 17th century, they import the new method from the Hosokawa village of Kishu (current Wakayama Prefecture). The paper, named Hosokawa-shi, became a big deal to meet the huge demand from Edo(Tokyo) city.
There is a proverb from that era, "Pikkari Senryo", means "a sunny day makes a million dollars". It indicates their business was extremely big.
The Hosokawa-shi was listed on the UNESCO Intangible Culture Heritage in 2014. They are training young artisans to retrieve their former prosperity.