Kidai Shoran (detail) © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst (Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin), former collection of Hans-Joachim and Inge Küster, gift of Manfred Bohms 2002, photography: Tadao Kodaira

28Scrap paper buyer

You might say that Edo was an “SDGs society” because all sorts of things were recycled and reused, from clothes to everyday items to human waste. There was a market for scrap paper, including old account ledgers, letters, newspapers, and books. Washi paper was recycled into new paper. This man is weighing the paper he has collected with a balance scale.