Wakasa Lacquered Chopsticks: A Beautifully Sparkling Traditional Craftsmanship

It sparkles like the beautiful ocean landscape of Wakasa with rich nature that still remains to this day. The beautiful patterns are made by coating eggshells, sea shells, gold foils, etc. with multi-colored lacquer, which are polished and carefully finalized one by one by the artisan. Each individual Wakasa lacquered product is a one-and-only in the world, which demonstrates the skillful craftsmanship.

A Wakasa lacquered chopstick feels smooth to the touch. You can definitely tell the level of craftsmanship of the artisan from the intricate designs that are made throughout the body. These chopsticks are not only beautiful, but it’s sturdy enough to retain its aesthetics for many years, making the user naturally want to use it every day, as well as cherish it for a very long time.

Wakasa lacquer takes at least half a year to produce. The process is roughly divided into 20 stages, which are all handled by a single artisan. Hence, one of its attractive qualities is its expression of the personality of the artisan themselves.

In this story, Mr. Koichi Haneda, a traditional craftsman at the Haneda Lacquer Store, explains the process of making Wakasa lacquered chopsticks.

While producing crafts as the head of his Haneda Lacquer Store, which has continued for 14 generations, he is currently trying to revitalize the art of Wakasa lacquer through hosting traditional craft classes at the “Wakasa Studio (inside the Obama Food Culture Museum)” in Obama City, as well as at local schools. Let’s now examine how Wakasa lacquer chopsticks are made.

Strong lumbers are used for the base material of the chopstick, such as from the trees of zelkova, cherry blossoms and chestnuts. First, the wooden basis is prepared. After performing the preparatory processes of “koku sozume,” “nuno kise,” “zinoko application,” “shitaji sabitsuke” and “sabi togi,” the raw lacquer is applied.

Mr. Haneda says that even with the same lacquer, care must be taken because the texture of lacquer itself differs between summer and winter. Slight adjustments must be made, relying on his keen senses that have been developed over the years, such as by warming and softening up lacquers that harden during the winter.

Using pure, natural materials

Each material, which collectively creates its sparkling patterns, is carefully affixed one by one. “Since long ago, natural materials have been used to create the designs of Wakasa lacquer, including grinded egg shells, sea shells, seeds of rapeseed, etc. Leaves of pines and cypress trees may be used at times when making large items such as during the lantern festival.”

Mr. Haneda smiled and said that any natural material can be used for the production. It was surprising to see that the sparkling patterns were all made from natural materials that are familiar to us. Mr. Haneda demonstrated his work for us steadfastly with great skill. It definitely requires very fine and delicate craftsmanship.

Thorough drying is also an important step. It takes about a week until the lacquers dry. After sufficiently drying the materials that create the patterns, it goes through a process called “ainuri,” which involves applying lacquers of various colors such as red, yellow and green in an overlapping fashion.

The refreshing, vividly colorful lacquers are made by using a brown or black lacquer as the base, which is mixed with pounces. These lacquers that are repeatedly painted over each other also float up to the surface and create beautiful patterns during the sharpening process. The beauty of Wakasa lacquers, created through numerous overlapping layers, is referred to as the “beauty of layers.”

The concavo-convex patterns hidden inside are gradually brought up to the surface through the sharpening process. The pattern doesn’t shine forth as much if it’s not sharpened enough, although over-sharpening must be avoided. The technician's fine craftsmanship is also tested here. The sharpening process requires time and care, by using different grindstones based on the progress of the pattern. After a while, a beautiful pattern starts emerging from the depths of the layers of lacquer that have been repeatedly applied.

From there, it requires the following processes: “tsuya nuri” (gloss application) to fill in the scratches that were produced during the stone sharping, as well as “sumi togi,” “tonoko migaki (powder polishing),” “tsunoko migaki (horn meal polishing)” and “shiage migaki (final polishing).” By repeatedly coating and sharpening in this way, the unique luster and gloss of Wakasa lacquers are created.