urushiってなに？？

Lacquerware is tableware with a glossy, soft, and natural texture. Its elegant texture and colors enhance the beauty and enjoyment of food.

Lacquerware is a time-consuming and highly skilled craft, sometimes involving over 100 steps, making it expensive. However, once acquired, it can be used for a long time, and new charms are often discovered over time.

A beautiful table setting, when paired with appropriate tableware, further enhances the deliciousness of the food. A lovely table setting enriches one's dining experience, making cooking more enjoyable and encouraging guests.

Furthermore, incorporating lacquerware into your daily life can create an elegant feeling, a calm, chic, and modern Japanese atmosphere, allowing you to be gentle with yourself and even providing a sense of healing.

■ "Lacquer"

Lacquer is the sap that oozes from the lacquer tree. The lacquer tree, when its branches break or when damaged by insects or animals, oozes lacquer to protect itself from damage. Lacquer possesses great durability and can be applied for a long time, resulting in a strong and beautiful luster.

The application process alone involves at least 12 steps. Even harvesting the lacquer material requires careful attention; a single lacquer tree, cultivated for 10 years, yields only about 200cc of lacquer. Furthermore, the sap cannot be re-extracted from the same tree. Once planted, if a lacquer tree is left standing after sap extraction, it will not sprout, and the lacquer forest cannot regenerate.

■Lacquerware

As a representative art and craft of Japan, it was introduced approximately 9000 years ago (during the Jomon period). Influenced by Chinese art and crafts with the introduction of Buddhism, the foundations of Japanese lacquerware gradually developed.

*Lacquerware refers to vessels made by kneading and layering sap extracted from the lacquer tree.

The process involves drying the wood, preparing the base, applying a primer, and then applying the lacquer, going through many steps before completion.

Furthermore, it's not a case of one craftsman completing the entire process. It's generally done by multiple craftsmen, each specializing in different tasks: a "woodworker" who prepares the base, a "lacquerer" who applies the lacquer, and a "lacquer artist" who applies the decorative designs.

◎While lacquerware is often perceived as expensive, the reason for its high price lies in the meticulous, unseen work involved in the manufacturing process, in addition to the steps mentioned above.

For example, before preparing the base, the wood is left to rest for at least a year after felling to allow the moisture to completely evaporate.

Furthermore,

1. Preparing the base (material selection): Selecting materials suitable for the product; (cutting): Cutting the materials to the product size; adding small parts such as marking lines; (craftsmanship): Assembling the cut materials with wood glue; (polishing): Polishing the assembled product to a beautiful finish.

2. The undercoat process involves four steps: (drying) drying the wood grain, (sanding) sanding the entire surface again, (undercoat drying) applying another undercoat and drying, and (undercoat polishing) polishing the entire surface again.

3. The intermediate coat process involves four steps: (rust application) filling in scratches and dents in the wood with a special putty and sanding to make it smooth, (drying) applying and drying the entire surface, (drying) applying another coat and drying the entire surface again, and (polishing) polishing the entire surface again.

4. The finish coat process involves (wiping) cleaning the product after the intermediate coat, (painting) applying the finish coat, and (drying) drying until the lacquer is completely dry.

* Lacquer materials are primarily wood, making them lightweight. The lacquer paint is a natural paint with antibacterial properties, possessing the elegance and profound beauty unique to synthetic paints. It also develops a beautiful sheen with use!

* Lacquer continues to be used as a strong, long-lasting protective coating for objects.

Due to the characteristics of lacquer—its high moisture absorption, lightness, and antibacterial properties—lacquerware has been used in Japan since ancient times for dishes such as soups and tiered food boxes. Lacquerware adorned with ornate maki-e (gold lacquer) designs is sometimes made for special occasions or as gifts.

In recent years, lacquerware has also evolved into everyday items, and its uses have expanded with the times.

■ Types of Base Materials

◎ Wood (Natural Wood): Primarily uses zelkova, Japanese cherry, horse chestnut, and senoki cedar, which have beautiful grains and are considered the finest materials for lacquerware.

◎ Natural Wood Products (Dried Wood/Wood Powder Products): Products made by mixing wood powder with natural resin and hardening it in a mold. Examples include MDF (also known as medium-density fiberboard, which is made by heat-molding recycled plant fibers such as wood into sheets) and natural wood veneer (which uses wood on the surface and MDF or plywood as the core material).

◎Plastic/ABS resin (melamine resin/phenol resin) = Made by hardening only resin, resulting in a significantly reduced texture (choose without hesitation). Examples include ABS resin (molded ABS resin) and phenol resin (molded phenol resin).

◎Other materials include cloth, paper, leather, and tree bark.

■Color

Jet black: This term refers to a deep black or glossy black. Refined lacquer is originally a brownish transparent color, and other colors (such as vermilion) are produced by mixing pigments into this transparent lacquer.

Vermilion (washed vermilion): Historically a color associated with Buddhism and Shintoism. It's the color still seen on temple buildings and shrine gates today (the ratio of red to vermilion torii gates differs between the Kanto and Kansai regions). Conversely, the "vermilion" commonly called "red" was the color of the common people. A glossy vermilion is preferred. For dark vermilion, some prefer a matte finish.

→ Tamenuri (layered lacquer): A base coat of vermilion or red is used. After drying, charcoal is applied to create a matte finish, and then transparent lacquer (suki-urushi) or nashiji lacquer is applied as the finish.

■ Types of Lacquered Items

Negoro-nuri: A type of Japanese painting technique, where vermilion lacquer is applied over a black lacquer base coat.

Kanshitsu: One method of creating the base material for vessels. It involves layering hemp cloth or similar material with lacquer paste (made by mixing with raw lacquer paste) to create the base. The lacquer liquid dries and hardens for temporary preservation.

*A characteristic of Kanshitsu vessels is that they are lighter than wood, less prone to breakage, and are unique in that they can be stored in a refrigerator.

Shibuichi-nuri: An alloy of copper and silver in a 1/4 ratio, conceived because of its metallic appearance.

It is characterized by its metallic texture created using tin powder and charcoal powder, and the unique appearance of each piece. Scratches are less noticeable, making it safe to place on top of ceramic or glass bowls. The underside has a black dry lacquer finish, making it scratch-resistant and durable. The vessel exhibits a unique shine that might make you mistake it for metal or glass at first glance.

■Decorative Crafts

This includes maki-e (flat maki-e, raised maki-e, polished maki-e, and rib-polished maki-e), where patterns are painted in gold and silver onto the lacquered surface; chinkin, where patterns are carved into the lacquered surface with a blade and gold leaf or gold powder is pressed into the resulting marks; and raden, where patterns are created using seashells.

* Lacquerware made using maki-e techniques with skillful use of gold and silver, such as shibuichi-nuri and iridescent lacquer, has a finish that is hard to believe is made of wood.

◎Natural Wood Products (Wood Powder Products) = These are made by mixing wood powder with natural resin and hardening it using a mold. These include MDF (Medium-Density Fiberboard), which is recycled wood made by heat-pressing plant fibers such as wood into sheets, and natural wood veneer (wood surface with an MDF or plywood core).

◎Plastic/ABS resins (melamine resin, phenolic resin) = These are made by hardening only resin, and the texture of the material is significantly inferior (we do not offer these at our store due to cost-effectiveness). Examples include ABS resin (molded ABS resin) and phenolic resin (molded phenolic resin).

◎Other materials include cloth, paper, leather, and tree bark.

■Types of painted surfaces

○Urushi (Urushi paint/mixed paint of synthetic resin paint and lacquer)

○Urushi lacquer (Painted using traditional methods and materials)

○Urethane (Urethane resin paint)

○Polyester (Polyester resin paint)

○Cashew (Cashew paint/Paint made from cashew nuts)

○Acrylic resin paint

○Acrylic urethane