Yamanaka Lacquer Ware

Yamanaka lacquerware began around the year 1580, when a group of woodworkers who excelled at hikimono-kiji, the art of turning wood on a lathe, moved from the province of Echizen (the northern part of today’s Fukui prefecture) through the mountains to the village of Masago, some 20 kilometers upstream from Yamanaka Hot Spring in today’s Ishikawa prefecture.

At the end of the Edo period (1615–1868), master woodworker Heibei Minoya introduced lathe-produced methods of incising the wood surfaces of vessels including sensuji-hiki (“thousand-stripe engraving”) and other innovations. In in the early Meiji period (1868–1912), Ryōtarō Tsuiki (b. 1874) developed surface engraving patterns such as kesuji (“hair-line stripes”) and inahosuji (rice-ear-like stripes), establishing artistic techniques still in use today.

After the piece is formed and engraved with a pattern, it is finished with fukiurushi, a technique of rubbing lacquer into the wood to accentuate the natural wood grain. Wares processed this way acquire ever more beauty over time as they are used. Another characteristic design is komanuri, a design of concentric rings in alternating hues of red, gold, and black lacquer.The kinds of trees used are zelkova, horse chestnut, and cherry birch, whose wood is sturdy and doesn’t warp. The wood is trimmed vertically, not horizontally as is more common, which increases the durability of Yamanaka ware. 

Yamanaka lacquerware characteristically uses zelkova (keyaki), horse chestnut (tochi), or Japanese cherry birch (mizume) wood that is vertically oriented to the object (tatekidori). Compared to horizontally oriented cutting, this technique results in less warping and greater durability. The rough-cut wood is first placed in a vacuum dryer and 7 percent of its water content is removed. The wood is left to age slowly, and when its water content is restored, lathe work begins. Then the wood is ornamented with a variety of patterns unique to the Yamanaka tradition: sensuji (“thousand stripes”), inahosuji (“rice-ear-like stripes”), and arasuji (“rough stripes”), to name a few.

After the wood has been turned on the lathe, it is brushed with lacquer, which tightens the natural grain and also serves as filler to prevent warping or shrinkage after drying. At the same time, fragile edges that will be subjected to heavy use are reinforced by attaching strips of hempen cloth with rice paste. After that, the piece is brushed with a mixture of lacquer, polishing powder, and diatomaceous earth, and polished when dry. This process is repeated 10 or 20 times, further strengthening the wood and smoothing the surface. This stage, which takes approximately one month, is essential to the quality of the finished product. 

 The surface is plastered with sabi, a mixture of urushi and polishing powder, and smoothed with a whetstone and water (a process called mizutogi).

Makie is a final step in the production of lacquer pieces. First a design is drawn with wet lacquer, and, before it dries, powdered gold, silver, or other precious metal is sprinkled on top and made to adhere. Yamanaka lacquerware is known for its highly skilled woodturning techniques used in its making, its artisans are also skilled in techniques of makie techniques, which were transmitted by specialists from Kyoto and Aizu in the early nineteenth century. Subsequently, makie specialists brought back the technique of takamakie (“raised makie”) from Kanazawa, further implementing and developing local artistic techniques.

Today artisans use a variety of techniques, including takamakie, togidashi makie (“polished down makie”), and hiramakie (“flat makie”), primarily in the making of utensils for the tea ceremony. 

Fukiurushi (“lacquer-wiping”) is a process essential to showcasing the beautiful grain of zelkova and horse chestnut woods used in the making of Yamanaka lacquerware. It is also known as suriurushi (“lacquer-rubbing”). The latter term refers to the process of applying the lacquer directly to the wood, the former to the process of wiping it off.

  First the unfinished wood is brushed with lacquer using a horsehair brush, and after the lacquer has penetrated the wood, it is wiped with long fibered paper and left to dry. These steps are repeated many times. The quality of the kiji, or wood base onto which the lacquer is applied, determines the quality of the finished product, so it is the highly developed skills of the Yamanaka woodturners that make possible the gorgeous end products finished in fukiurushi.