Ise Gikakushi Japanese Paper Leather Planner Binder

This Ise Gikakushi Japanese Paper Leather Planner Binder from TAKEO is a ring planner whose cover is made of Ise gikakushi, a traditional Japanese washi paper processed to look and feel like leather. Inside, it is lined with Italian chrome-tanned cowhide and fitted with rings by KRAUSE of Germany. It comes in Bible, Mini 6 and M5 sizes, in navy or teal.

A ring planner lets you add, remove and reorder loose-leaf pages, so a single cover can hold your calendar, to-do lists, notes and reference pages and change with you over the years. The Bible size (12 × 19.5 cm closed) gives the most writing space for planning at a desk, the Mini 6 (10.5 × 15 cm) sits in between, and the M5 (9 × 12.5 cm) is the most compact to carry. Each size takes refills of the matching format, such as TAKEO's own planner refills made from its fine papers.

Gikakushi is washi that has been worked to give it the texture and durability of leather. TAKEO describes it as supple and resistant to folding and bending, and it settles into your hand the more you use it. Over time, creases form and the color shifts, so each cover develops a character of its own. Inside, the embossed shrink-grain cowhide has an even, attractive grain, a leather guard behind the rings helps prevent marks from the metal, and the TAKEO PAPER PRODUCTS logo is debossed into the leather. The planner is light for its size, from about 76 g for the M5 to about 163 g for the Bible.

Ise gikakushi is a craft of Mie Prefecture, tied to the pilgrimages to Ise. Its making is said to date to 1684, when Horiki Chujiro began producing it by improving on oiled paper. During the Edo period, tobacco pouches made from gikakushi became a hugely popular souvenir for pilgrims visiting Ise, and in 1900 gikakushi won gold medals at the Paris Exposition. Production stopped in the early Showa period, and because the method had been handed down by word of mouth, almost no written records remained. From 2009, a local society studied surviving pieces and rebuilt the tools to revive it, and in 2013 Mie Prefecture designated gikakushi a traditional craft.

For this planner, TAKEO had the washi for the cover made specially by a craftsman, and the planner itself is made in Tokyo.

Fill it with our Japanese planner refills, including fine-paper refills from TAKEO in Bible, Mini 6 and M5 sizes.

Details

• Size (Bible): 4.72" × 7.68" (12 cm × 19.5 cm) closed, 9.45" (24 cm) open, 0.63" (16 mm) rings
• Size (Mini 6): 4.13" × 5.91" (10.5 cm × 15 cm) closed, 8.27" (21 cm) open, 0.51" (13 mm) rings
• Size (M5): 3.54" × 4.92" (9 cm × 12.5 cm) closed, 7.17" (18.2 cm) open, 0.51" (13 mm) rings
• Weight: Bible approx. 5.7 oz (163 g), Mini 6 approx. 4.0 oz (113 g), M5 approx. 2.7 oz (76 g)
• Materials: Ise gikakushi (cover), Italian chrome-tanned cowhide "Adria" (interior), rings by KRAUSE of Germany
• Colors: Teal, navy (shikon, a deep navy with a purple cast)
• Origin: Japan
• Brand: Takeo
• Note: The cover is paper. Keep it away from water and strong rubbing, as moisture can cause warping or color transfer, and avoid long exposure to direct sunlight, heat and humidity. Creases and color changes from use are part of the material, and each cover varies slightly.

The Story of TAKEO

TAKEO Co., Ltd. is a specialist paper merchant founded in 1899 in Kyobashi, Tokyo, as Takeo Yoshiten, and based in Kanda since the following year. For generations it has supplied fine papers to graphic designers, printers and publishers, and at its Mihoncho main store in Kanda visitors can buy around 2,700 kinds of paper one sheet at a time.

In 2024, TAKEO PAPER PRODUCTS, the company's own stationery line, began making planner refills from its fine papers as part of its work to widen what paper can do. The Ise gikakushi planner continues that work, giving a traditional Japanese paper a new everyday use.