Japanese Paper Lamps & Washi Lighting

Every lamp on this page is built the same slow way: a frame of hand-spliced bamboo ribs, covered by hand in mulberry-bark washi paper, lit from within by a warm-white LED. About ninety minutes per shade. Nothing here is injection-moulded, and none of it is made from machine-made paper — which is exactly why the light that comes out of it looks the way it does.

What washi actually is

"Washi" (和紙) is simply Japanese for Japanese paper: wa, Japan, and shi, paper. The paper we use is made from the inner bark of the kōzo plant, a type of mulberry. Its fibres are long, irregular and slightly uneven, and they are what you can see floating in the sheet when you hold a shade up to the light.

The English habit of calling these "rice paper lamps" is a misnomer — there is no rice in the paper, and there never was. The name stuck because early exports looked translucent and fragile, and rice paper was the closest thing Western buyers had a word for. If you are searching for a rice paper lamp, you are almost certainly looking for what is on this page.

That unevenness is the whole point. Light passing through a uniform, machine-made sheet comes out flat — even, slightly clinical, a little like an office panel. Light passing through hand-laid kōzo fibre scatters. It loses its hard edges. It warms. You get a glow with depth instead of a bright surface, and you can sit in the same room as the lamp without it ever becoming glare at eye level.

The frame matters as much as the paper. We splice bamboo ribs by hand rather than bending wire, because wire-frame lanterns sag within a year and bamboo does not. Bamboo flexes with the humidity of the room and returns to shape, and it holds the proportion of the shade for decades. You can see the ribs from the open base of the shade — we leave them visible on purpose.

Washi paper floor lamps

A floor lamp is the easiest way to put washi light into a room you already have. No ceiling hole, no electrician, no commitment. You place it, plug it in, and the corner it was standing in changes character.

The tripod base is the classic form and still the most practical: three legs, a low centre of gravity, and a shade that sits at seated eye level beside a sofa or reading chair. Ours is the 3X Tripod, from $125, and it is the lamp most people buy first. If you want something with more presence, the Zephyr ($185 hanging, $215 standing) has a taller, softer silhouette, and the 22N at $275 is the widest of the three.

For a room that needs the lamp to do the decorative work as well as the lighting work, the larger sculptures are worth the step up: the 10A at $355, or the Hitomi UF3-DL at $385, which has a narrower aperture and throws a more directional pool of light.

Washi paper pendant and ceiling lights

This is the form most people picture when they hear the word. A single shade hung from a cord, doing nothing but softening the light in the room below it.

Our most-ordered pendant is the 55A, from $85 — it comes in seven diameters from 11.8 to 29.5 inches, all cut to the same 1951 proportion, so the shape you like is the shape you get at any size. If you want a flatter, wider disc that sits closer to the ceiling, the 26A from $135 is a wide flat saucer at 17.5 by 9.8 inches. For a genuinely oversized piece over a long table, the 21A from $235 is the one people photograph.

Two smaller shapes are worth knowing about: the 50EN from $135, an orb with a deliberately imperfect wabi-sabi silhouette, and the 23A at $225, which reads as origami rather than lantern. At the top of the range sit the 36N at $835 and the 75A–120A series from $335, both built for rooms with real volume.

Washi paper table lamps

A washi table lamp is the cheapest way to find out whether you like this light at all. Put one on a sideboard, a bedside table or a bookshelf and leave it on in the evening — it does not need to be the main light in the room to change how the room feels.

The 1A at $89 is the smallest and the most-gifted. The 2N at $95 is tall and vertical, which suits narrow surfaces. The 6A at $165 is the tallest of the three and reads as a small sculpture. If you want no cord at all, the Mountain Light at $130 is rechargeable, and the Nebuta at $130 and the 1N from $110 round out the smaller end.

Which size should you buy?

Size is the one thing people hesitate on, and it is the one thing that is easy to get right. Here is the rule that has held up across hundreds of orders:

Take the width of your room in feet, and use that number in inches as your shade diameter. A 12-foot room wants roughly a 12 to 16 inch shade. A large open-plan space will carry a 31.5 inch shade, and a double-height entry is the only place where the biggest sizes stop being too big and start being the entire point of the room.

Three more rules that catch the cases the first one misses:

  • Over a dining table: shade diameter roughly equals table width minus 12 inches, with the bottom of the shade hanging 30 to 36 inches above the tabletop.
  • Over a kitchen island: two or three smaller shades spaced evenly beat one large one, because one large one leaves the ends of the island dark.
  • Beside a reading chair: the bottom of the shade should sit at or just below your eye level when you are seated — usually 40 to 45 inches from the floor.

Most people buy the 23.6 inch size. It is the one that works in a normal living room without apologising for itself. Whichever you pick, the proportion is identical — the same ratio, scaled to your room.

55A sizes and prices

Diameter Price, Classic Edition Where it works
Ø 11.8 in (30 cm) $90 Hallway, reading nook
Ø 15.7 in (40 cm) $115 Small entry, bedside corner
Ø 17.7 in (45 cm) $135 Breakfast nook
Ø 19.7 in (50 cm) $155 Two-seater table
Ø 21.6 in (55 cm) $190 Four-seater table
Ø 23.6 in (60 cm) $225 Living room — our most-ordered size
Ø 29.5 in (75 cm) $500 Open-plan, double-height entry

Every other model, measured

The eight models we make are all listed with verified dimensions, fitting type and starting price in our Akari lamp size guide. Worth reading before you buy, because the model numbers are design sequence numbers rather than sizes — the 26A is a full size smaller than the 21A.

Compare all 55A sizes →

Three editions: Value, Classic, Mastercraft

Most shapes on this page come in three builds. They share the same proportions — they differ in what they are made of, and therefore in how the light reads and how much they cost.

  • Value edition uses a recycled PET shade. It is the most consistent from unit to unit, the lightest to ship, and the lowest priced. The glow is clean and even.
  • Classic edition is natural bamboo with an invisible connector, so the frame disappears into the shade. This is the one most people order, and the one we recommend if you are buying your first washi lamp.
  • Mastercraft edition is hand-woven bamboo, made by weavers in Sichuan. The rib pattern is denser, the paper sits tighter, and the glow is the deepest of the three. It costs more and takes longer because it is genuinely slower to make.

Plug-in or hardwire?

Both. Every pendant ships with a hardwire ceiling kit included, so if you own the place and want a clean ceiling, that is the default.

If you rent — or you simply do not want an electrician in the house — add the Plug-In Conversion Kit for $15 and hang the lamp from a ceiling hook instead. No ceiling hole, no wiring, no conversation with your landlord. A 200 cm (79 in) black cord is included as standard, and custom lengths are free on request: leave your measurement in the order notes, measured from the top of the cord to the bottom of the shade.

Care and longevity

Every lamp takes a standard E26 bulb, and a 20W warm-white LED (2700K) is included in the box. We recommend LED over incandescent — the heat from an incandescent bulb will yellow washi paper over a few years, and an LED will not.

Dust the shade with a dry, soft brush, or blow it off with a hairdryer on a cool setting. Do not wipe washi with a wet cloth; it will mark. The bamboo ribs will flex slightly as the humidity in your room changes through the year. That is the material behaving correctly, not a fault, and the shade returns to shape on its own. Cords are replaceable and we sell spares.

Frequently asked questions

Are these official Akari lamps?

No. Akari is a design language that began in 1951, and we build our own lamps to those proportions because we think they are the right ones. We are not affiliated with, licensed by, or endorsed by the Noguchi estate or any rights holder. What you are buying is a hand-made lamp in that tradition, at a price that does not require a licence fee.

Is washi the same as rice paper?

No, although the two names get used interchangeably. Our paper is made from the inner bark of the kōzo mulberry plant. There is no rice in it. If you have been searching for a rice paper lamp, this is what you were looking for.

What bulb does it take?

A standard E26 base. A 20W warm-white LED at 2700K is included with every lamp. We recommend staying with LED — incandescent heat will yellow the paper over time.

Can I hang it on a sloped ceiling?

In most cases yes. The shade hangs from the cord rather than from the canopy, so it stays plumb even when the ceiling does not. If your slope is steep, email us before ordering and we will confirm the mounting hardware for your ceiling.

How long does delivery take?

Processing takes 1–3 business days, and delivery usually takes a further 4–12 business days depending on where you are. Standard shipping is free on all orders, with no hidden fees at checkout, and we email you a tracking number as soon as your lamp leaves the workshop.

What if it arrives damaged, or I change my mind?

You have 30 days from the date of delivery. If your lamp arrives with any tears, broken bamboo or electrical fault, take a photo, email hello@captainsbamboo.com, and we will ship a replacement immediately at no extra cost — or refund you in full. If the lamp is intact but you have changed your mind, we accept returns in the original packaging; to keep our prices fair we ask the buyer to cover return shipping in that case. Refunds are processed to your original payment method within 7 business days of us receiving and inspecting the item.

Where to start

Three lamps cover most of the decisions people actually face:

Browse every washi lamp →