Japanese Stab Binding: Sewn Through, and Hard to Open Flat

Turn a Japanese stab-bound book on its side and look at the thread along the spine edge. It crosses the edge at every hole and runs along the cover between them. The stitches go through the side of the whole stack, one of the three places where bookbinding methods can grip paper.

How does the thread go through the whole stack?

Matt Roberts and Don Etherington's 1982 dictionary of bookbinding terms, published by the Library of Congress, lists this method as “Japanese sewing.” The leaves are gathered and knocked even, and a hole is drilled through the entire thickness of the pile near the spine. More holes go on either side at equal distances.

The dictionary counts the holes as an odd number when the sewing starts at the center hole. From there the thread runs to the head, over it, down along the spine past the center to the tail, and back to the center. The two ends are tied in a flat knot on the outside. Thread, cord, string, yarn or tape can all serve.

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The thread runs in a straight line, much like the running stitches of hitomezashi sashiko. The difference is depth: here each stitch passes through the whole book.

Why is it called Japanese?

The name points to Japan, but the method was developed in China, according to Roberts and Etherington's 1982 dictionary. The dictionary gives no date or place beyond that, and this page could not read a source for when the method reached Japan.

The National Diet Library, Japan's national library, still teaches it. Its 2026 handout for a workshop on old Japanese books notes one difference in the thread: Japanese-bound books mostly use one thick strand, while books in classical Chinese more often use two thin strands.

Four holes: yotsume toji

The National Diet Library handout teaches yotsume toji (四つ目綴じ), “four-hole binding.” Its drawing shows four main sewing holes near the spine. Two pairs of smaller holes sit between them, and each pair holds a twist of paper that ties the leaves together before the thread goes on.

The handout starts the thread at the second hole from the tail and works toward the head, where more holes lie. The thread passes through every hole at least three times. The dictionary's center-start method needs an odd count, and its other method, begun from one end, allows an even one. The four-hole route starts at neither, so it matches neither description exactly.

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The calculation on this page models that route as 12 runs of thread. In the model every hole is passed at least 3 times, and each pair of neighboring holes is joined once on the front and once on the back. The handout's own drawing numbers 12 steps.

Download the stab binding patterns (CSV) (what the file holds)

The 1790 cover above shows four wraps at the spine edge, which fits a four-hole sewing. The catalog data on its Commons file page does not name the pattern.

Inside a stab-bound book

Inside the same 1790 book, an open spread stops short of the gutter, the place where facing pages meet. The printed frames end well before the stitched margin. That margin stays shut, because the thread pins every leaf there.

The National Diet Library handout adds a last step for a newly bound book. Two creases are pressed into the front cover just inside the stitching, and the cover is opened along them so it bends there.

How it fails: strong, but stiff at the spine

Roberts and Etherington call Japanese sewing extremely strong, “possibly one of the strongest ever devised.” In the same entry they note that it does not allow much flexibility, especially in small books. The book opens only where the paper can bend, in the margin past the stitches.

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Here the third hand is the thread's tension, which keeps the leaves pressed together once the sewing is done. The 2026 handout has the binder hold the thread down with a thumb while sewing, so it does not loosen. The final knot is pulled firm so no slack is left.

Thread still wears out or breaks. The handout's answer is the twists of paper inside: because they tie the leaves first, the leaves do not scatter if the sewing thread breaks. It also urges caution before re-sewing. Thread that is a little broken or loose need not be replaced if the paper tie holds and the book is usable, since re-sewing cuts the old thread and can damage the book.