The absorbent articles of this kind include (1) articles produced by covering the surface of an absorbent body with a face sheet, (2) as a modification thereof, articles that are improved in diffusion properties of body fluids and have a second sheet intervened between the face sheet and the absorbent body, (3) as a modification thereof, articles that are improved in prevention of wrinkles of the face sheet and have the face sheet and the second sheet affixed by an adhesive such as a hot melt, and the like (e.g., see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
However, in these absorbent articles of items (1) to (3), the face sheet is rubbed with the skin of users, so that skin roughs such as rashes are liable to be caused.
On the other hand, the methods of manufacturing an absorbent article of this kind include a method of, as shown in FIG. 6, applying embossing 103 to a face sheet 101 by means of an embossing roll 110 including, as illustrated in FIG. 5, a convex roll 111 having a plurality of convexes 113 formed on its roll surface 11a and a concave roll 112 having a plurality of concaves 114, in which the convexes 113 are fixed, formed on a roll surface 112a to thereby manufacture an absorbent article 100 provided with the face sheet 101 having the embossing 103 applied thereto and an absorbent article 102 in this order.
In the embossing roll 110 used in this conventional method, the pattern of the convex roll 111 is the same as that of the concave roll 112 and the embossing 103 is formed between the convexes 113 and their corresponding concaves 114. A skin-contacting portion 101a is formed in the embossing 103 by the mutually adjacent convexes 113 and the mutually adjacent concaves 114 that abut to the convexes 113.
However, according to this conventional method, in the face sheet 101, the area of a skin-contacting portion 101a, that is, the area of a part contacting with the skin of each user is large, so that the resulting absorbent article is liable to cause skin roughs such as rashes (e.g., see Patent Document 3).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-187228    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-250836    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No, 9-234221