A method of paper decoration *ryōshi sōshoku 料紙装飾. Two or more sheets of paper of different color and/or quality are joined together to make one sheet, to create various decorative effects, including an impression of depth.
There are three types of tsugigami : 1) Kiritsugi 切継 (cut and join), paper cut with sharp edges, with either straight or curved lines and then joined; 2) Yaburitsugi 破継 (tear and join), hand torn paper with irregular seams that is joined together; 3) Kasanetsugi 重継 (overlap and join), five sheets of paper of different color are laid on a bottom sheet of white paper, leaving 1-2 mm of each sheet showing. The effect is a gradual gradation from light to dark.
Tsugigami was used for writing poems and stories, and the best examples can be found in the early 12th-century anthology Sanjūrokuninshū 三十六人集 from Nishihonganji 西本願寺, Kyoto.