Kishu
Lacquerware

Kainan, Wakayama

Brand Highlights• Plant-derived lacquer depletes no fossil materials and uses no harmful organic solvents• Exclusive trading rights in the late 1700s propelled the area into an innovative centerof lacquerware production, as Kishu products became accessible throughout Japan• Our focus here is on certified traditional artisans* who use only natural materials
Kishu lacquerware hails from the city of Kainan in northern
Wakayama prefecture. Together with Aizu in Fukushima andWajima in Ishikawa, Kainan is one of the three major centers oflacquerware production in Japan.
Kishu lacquerware got its start in the late 1600s, whenwoodturners from present-day Shiga came to live in the Kuroe
area of Kainan, drawn by its plentiful cypress wood. Lacquerers
and painters of makie designs rendered with gold, silver, andother powders followed them. Shibuchi bowls, which used persimmon tannin in place of costly raw lacquer when forming theprimer paste, helped to put Kishu products in the reach of commoners. In 1760 the artisans of Kuroe were granted exclusive
trade rights from the domain. Fast-forward two centuries, andKishu lacquerware was recognized by the national government as a traditional craft in 1978.
Synthetic polymers and coatings arrived in Kainan in the1960s, opening the floodgates for cheaper, more easily produced wares. Today 90 percent of the lacquerers here use synthetic resin and polyurethane paints in place of natural lacquer.
We introduce three certified traditional artisans who, eschewing plastics, work to revive the old ways: Katsuhiko Hayashi
and the father-daughter duo Toshifumi and Kumiko Tanioka.

Opposite page, top: Natsume tea caddy by traditional
artisan Katsuhiko Hayashi with designs raised in relief.
In this most complicated of makie techniques, thelacquer is gradually built up to make the image risefrom the ground. Hayashi lavished three different
types of gold on this caddy, which is used in the tea
ceremony to hold matcha powdered tea. In theportrait Hayashi stands in one of the mikan citrus
fields for which Wakayama is known—the prefectureis the leading producer of the fruit in Japan.
Left: The wood grain of this low table in the studio oftraditional artisan Toshifumi Tanioka has taken on adeep amber hue from years of use in spreading lacquer.

Opposite page, bottom: Traditional artisan Kumiko
Tanioka on the beach at Wakanoura. Her lidded
incense burner pictured here employs the Zuiunnuri method, named after the phenomenon ofiridescent clouds. To create this look, a layer ofthick roiro reduced lacquer is applied to multiple
colored base coats and then polished down to yielda glowing, shimmering effect.
Above: Those who venture along the Kishu trail
leading to the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route willbe treated to this view of Kainan, taken from theGosho no Niwa garden at Jizobuji temple. The
hamlet of Kuroe lies in the valley at lower center.

*National certification as a traditional artisan is bestowed upon those who endeavor to preserve a traditional craft native to their area. Holders of
this title are devoted to the study of the craft’s techniques and skills, and play an active role in transmitting the vocation to the next generation.

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This whimsical katakuchi sake flask is made from acalabash gourd cut lengthwise, dried, and layered
with multiple coats of lacquer. The use of gourds
and even citrus peels as a base for Kishu lacquerware finds delight in nature’s shapes, no two of
which are exactly alike.

Katsuhiko Hayashi

Katsuhiko Hayashi is a makie artisan, like his Kishubased father and grandfather before him. Among
his works are sake cups and flasks fashioned out ofhollowed-out gourds, as well as cups made of citrus
peels. Just as is done when working with wood, heapplies layer upon layer of lacquer to these all-natural materials to create a thoroughly unique piece.
Hayashi’s interest in makie grew from aroundthe age of 12, when he attended a lacquer-making
workshop in which his father was involved. Theevent was filmed for television, and Hayashi wasshown making his first makie design. The scene
might have been the idea of the TV producers, or it
might have been his father trying to involve him in
the family business. Either way, it worked: he washooked.
He attended a fine-arts high school in Kyoto
where he focused on lacquerware, and after graduation remained in Kyoto as an apprentice to makie
artisan Shunsho Hattori. After ten years studying
under the master, Hayashi returned to Kainan.
Hayashi began crafting products from citrus
peels around 2013. Lacquerers had experimented
with using these as a base for their wares as far
back as the Edo period (1603–1867), most likely tomake resourceful use of the abundant local crop.
Plastic was introduced to Kishu in the 1960s.
Its use as a base material, as well as that of synthetic resin and polyurethane paints in place of raw
natural lacquer, soon became widespread among
artisans here. Today, 90 percent of those producing
wares in Kainan use such chemical coatings.
Hayashi, however, prefers the far more temperamental raw lacquer, because it feels alive.

Top: These finely dimpled sake cups owe their unique
texture to citrus peel. The pulp is removed and the peelsoaked in warm water for two days to draw out its oils.
Then it is dried for half a year before lacquering. Thickskinned varieties work best.
Above left: Katsuhiko Hayashi at work on a piece in hisFunoo studio. “I want the things I make to be used. The
natural luster of lacquer improves over time, with use.
And you can’t enjoy the texture of a piece without actually
taking it up in your hands,” he says.
Above right: Small and large cups made from gourds
glisten with their lacquered black sheen. As each one is adifferent size and depth, they don’t stack neatly—but
therein lies their appeal. They are as versatile as they are
one of a kind.
Third row: Hayashi applies lacquer to the inside of acitrus-peel cup using a handmade brush. The inside of thecup will receive a total of ten coats, hardening thematerial and enhancing its thermostability. The outside iscoated just three times so that the texture of the peelremains. Each application must be dried and polished
before the next, so the work demands patience. The resultof the painstaking process is an original cup with abrilliant luster that belies just how tough it is.
Bottom: This detail of a finely rendered makie piece byHayashi shows the nuanced effects he achieves with goldand silver powders. For many lacquerers, the art of makie
becomes a natural extension of their work.

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Kumiko Tanioka
Kumiko Tanioka is the first woman in Kishu to earn the nationally certified title of traditional artisan. She also represents thefifth generation of Tanioka Lacquerware, founded in 1883 by awoodturner who came to Kishu for its abundant wood and eventually added lacquer work to his trade.
The family workshop was on the second floor of her childhood home, so Tanioka grew up watching artisans come and goeach day. All of her friends came from lacquerer families. She
herself, however, was not interested in work that meant staying
indoors most of the time.
Her view shifted in college, when a friend asked her aboutlacquerware. She realized she didn’t know enough about the history or techniques of her hometown tradition to explain them.
After getting her master’s degree in economics she returned toKainan, where she participated in a program set up to train successors in the lacquerware trade. She spent three months in theworkshop of a makie expert and was fascinated. For the next tenyears she apprenticed at various studios while holding down ateaching job at a cram school.
She earned her certificate as a traditional artisan just as thebase of the local industry was floundering. “I worked hard to become a traditional artisan. With so many veterans in the field
stepping down, I knew that something had to be done to preserve the craft—if only for the sake of those who had come before me,” she says.
Tanioka considers herself an artisan, not an artist. She takes
pride in filling orders for multiple quantities of the same item,
each piece in the set as beautifully rendered as the next. Her workfeatures on the tables of upscale restaurants in Tokyo’s Akasaka
district, and most of her tsubo pots are purchased by foreigners.

Opposite page: A Negoro-nuri pot by Tanioka Lacquerware. In this style,which is one of the foundational techniques of Kishu lacquerware, layers ofvermilion are applied over base layers of black. When the top coats arerubbed away—either by long years of use or by the hand of the artisan—thecontrasting beauty of both colors is revealed. The style is said to haveoriginated at Negoro Temple in Wakayama, where monks used to maketheir own lacquered trays and bowls, layering the two colors. After years ofuse the red would wear down in places, a look that caught on as an
attractive design. The effect is sometimes likened to the sky at dawn, whenclouds are lit from below.
Top left: Traditional artisan Kumiko Tanioka in her hometown. “I don’t wantpeople to equate Kishu lacquerware with synthetic pieces,” she declares.
Top right: Softly curving lines meld in this simple form uniting round andlozenge-shaped vases. The piece looks striking in a contemporary space.
Above, left and right: As the vermilion top coats are rubbed with Suruga
charcoal, a superb polishing material made from the wood-oil tree, theblack lacquer beneath is revealed. No two pieces are the same.
Left: A makie detail by Tanioka, who found her path to lacquer workthrough her fascination with this art form. She is one lacquer artisan tokeep an eye on.

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Wood substrate

Surface smoothing

Primer coat

Base to middle coatsBase coat polish

Wood is turned on alathe to create thebase for the lacquered
piece. At Tanioka
Lacquerware, Kishu
cypress is used.

Irregularities in thewood surface arechiseled out and filledin with a mixture of
raw lacquer, rice flour,and sawdust.

A paste made of waterand fired-clay or shale
powder is kneaded,then mixed with raw
lacquer and applied tothe surface.

The piece is painted
with lacquer. Aftereach coating it isplaced in a humiditycontrolled drying
chamber to harden.

Suruga charcoal isused to remove brushmarks from thehardened lacquer film
and to polish thesurface.

Why lacquerware?
To the uninitiated, lacquerware can look just like plastic. This
perception typically prompts the question, “Why is it so expensive?” Even among Japanese, who see and use lacquered bowls
and trays regularly, there are many who are unaware of just how
time-consuming and labor-intensive the art of lacquering is.
The craft process shown above for an item of Negoro-nuri
lacquerware is in fact a condensed version of all that is involved.
A piece is coated, allowed to harden, and polished repeatedly. It
takes a seasoned artisan to accomplish the dozens of tasks involved. The higher price reflects this.
But why all the fuss—is it really worth it? The answer lies inthe stellar properties of lacquer as a coating and the beauty of its
lustrous coat. Made from the sap of tall deciduous trees of thecashew family, this all-natural varnish creates a hard, durable
film that repels water, heat, salt, acids, and alkalis. It can even
withstand nitrohydrochloric acid, which dissolves gold. Natural
lacquer also has superior antiseptic and antibacterial qualities.
Lacquered items several thousand years old have been excavated intact, their sheen unblemished. Its only vulnerabilities are
extremely dry conditions and the UV rays in direct sunlight.
The dewy look of lacquer is owed to its molecular pliability.
Indeed, the surface has a silky, almost wet quality. Note the feelof a lacquered cup when you bring it to your lips, and compare its
texture to that of plastic. Viewed under high magnification, thesurface of hardened lacquer has an uneven grain structure. That“give” accounts for its plump feel and soft luster.
It seems contradictory that a material rivaling epoxy resin interms of sheer toughness and durability should feel so soft tothe touch. No other coating boasts this combination of qualities.
That, essentially, is the enduring appeal of this all-naturalwonder material.

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Above: The raw lacquer that isessential to Kishu lacquerware.
Left: The handles of these brushes
used by traditional artisan Toshifumi
Tanioka shine with their long yearsof use in lacquering.
Tajima Lacquer in Kainan refinesnatural sap and colors it. The shop
carries lacquers harvested in Japan,China, Vietnam, and Myanmar. By far the most lacquer used in Japan today
comes from China—40 tons are imported annually. In contrast, just 800
kilograms of sap are collected domestically each year. The main component of both Japanese and Chinese lacquer is urushiol, an oily mixture oforganic compounds. Vietnamese sap, by contrast, mainly contains laccol,
while the main component of lacquer from Myanmar is thitsiol. The surface
durability and clarity of urushiol and non-urushiol lacquers differ.
Raw lacquer is not a material that lends itself to convenience or efficient
harvesting. Only 200 grams of sap can be collected from a tree that’s
been cultivated for 10 to 15 years. Cuts are made in the trunk by hand, andthe sap is collected as it slowly seeps out. The trade-off, of course, is thatonce it is harvested and processed, natural lacquer yields a coating thatremains durable and beautiful for thousands of years.

Vermilion coat

Polishing

FinishingCompletion!

Raw lacquer reduced 95
percent is called roiro.
This thick, translucent
coating is blended withvermilion pigment for
the top layers.

The surface is polished
down in places toreveal the blackunderneath. This is theclassic look of Negoronuri lacquerware.

A long final polishingprocess yields a
mirror-like sheen,bringing out the full
luster of the multiple
lacquer coatings.

Made entirely ofnatural materials, thefinished piece comeswith a stand and ispacked in a wooden
box—a lovely gift.

Above, right, and far right: Toshifumi Tanioka,
Kumiko’s father, is the fourth-generation
proprietor of Tanioka Lacquerware. Each day
before he sets to work on a new coating, hefirst strains the lacquer to remove any dust
or other impurities—the surface of eachcoating must be rendered absolutely clear.
Lacquer itself has no natural color, soTanioka blends pigments to yield the desired
hue. A number of lacquered clay and wooden
objects from prehistoric Jomon times havebeen excavated in Japan. The basic colors
used then, too, were vermilion and black.
Raw lacquer hardens through a chemical
reaction between laccase, an enzyme
present in the sap, and the oil urushiol, thesap’s main component. At an adequate
temperature and ambient humidity, laccase absorbs oxygen from the moisturein the air and supplies it to the urushiol in a process called oxidative polymerization; this is what effectively hardens the liquid lacquer. Laccase activates attemperatures of 20 to 25ºC and humidity of 60 to 80 percent. The drying
chamber maintains these optimal conditions.

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These elegant chopsticks by Katsuhiko Hayashi
showcase a variety of techniques, including
Negoro-nuri and makie. Each pair is the result ofmany patient layerings of lacquer, and their varied
designs speak to Hayashi’s skills as an artist.
Thanks to the antibacterial properties of natural
lacquer, the chopsticks require only a quick rinse inwater after use.

Opposite page: The wall behind the head councilman’s seat in Kainan City Hall is graced by a
Negoro-nuri panel made by Toshifumi and Kumiko
Tanioka. The work brings a bright warm accent tothe understated browns and grays of the modernist
chamber. Other commissioned works by the two
are found at the reception desk and in the hallwaysof the building, which was completed in 2017.

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