Negoro - Yô No Bi

May 7, 2018

THE REFINED BEAUTY AND RUSTIC AMBIENCE OF MEDIEVAL JAPAN

Most collectors and lovers of Japanese Pens are familiar with „Maki-e“ (Maki = sprinkling, E = picture) but it is not well known, that among the trade of urushi Maki-e is only one particular technique in which pictures are created by using different metal powders that are sprinkled into wet lacquer and polished.

There ar other techniques that I will introduce and explain in posts to follow.

Today I would like to introduce to you a lacquer called Negoro.

Negoro refers to simple and elegant red lacquer objects that were produced during Japan’s medieval period, between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries in a Buddhist temple with the name „Negoro-Ji“. The Negoro-ji (根来寺) complex of Buddhist temples stands on the side of, and is surrounded by, the sacred peaks of the Katsuragi Mountains, which dominate the horizon at the northern end of the city of Iwade, Wakayama in Japan. In 1585, buildings (except the main pagoda and a few others) were burnt down during the Siege of Negoro-ji by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He feared the growing military power of the priesthood and the Negoro-gumi (warrior monks of the temple) who were skilled in the use of firearms. At Negoro-ji religious and every day products have all been lacquer with black urushi „kuro-nuri“ and a final coat of red urushi „shû-neri“. Over decades and centuries of use the red lacquer was worn down partially to release the black under coat.

Yô no Bi

Yô no bi’ is an expression from the Japanese folk craft tradition and means ‘beauty through use’. It is perfectly represented by Negoro lacquer.

Embodying the ancient sense of Japanese beauty, the minimalistic forms of Negoro lacquer ware were primarily made to be functional objects and are void of elaborate decoration. The supple shapes and naturally worn patina of red and black lacquered layers give Negoro an ambience of antiquity and elegance which has made them treasured objects throughout the ages. Since the early twentieth century Negoro wares have become highly appreciated by connoisseurs as objects of outstanding design that pursue a certain utilitarian beauty. Since ancient times the Neolithic people of Japan have used the sap of the lacquer tree (Japanese sumac, or Toxicodendron vernicifluum) mixed with cinnabar pigment to produce red lacquered objects for daily use. Red is considered a sacred and auspicious colour in Japan.

It is used widely as the colour of shrines and temples, as well as of sacred offering vessels and in some instances, such as red sea brim, the colour of the ritual offering itself. The first illustrated evidence of the use of red lacquer ware is found in handscrolls, including the twelfth-century Tale of Genji ‘Kashiwagi’ scroll in which circular trays similar to the one in the NGV collection are shown being used by members of the imperial aristocracy. In the fourteenthcentury handscroll Miraculous stories of the gods of Kasuga (Kasuga Gongen Genki-e), we see shrine priests eating from stem tables identical in appearance and age to examples in the NGV collection, and in the sixteenth-century The illustrated scroll of the sake and rice debate (Shuhanron ekotoba), we see monks using red lacquered trays, bowls and large dishes. In these depictions of monastery life and aristocratic villas Negoro utensils are clearly shown as favoured and cherished objects, alluding to demand for their production in large numbers. Square and circular trays, bowls of various sizes and large spouted ewers were used at daily meals. Lobed cup stands, offering trays and sake bottles with foliate lids featured in temple rituals and clearly display lotus flower–inspired motifs common to Buddhist art. Stem tables were frequently used as offering stands and placed in altars of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.

Themes connected to Negoro Lacquer Wabi

What can we say, beyond mentioning that although these lacquer pieces usually are red, and show traces of the underlaying black, sometimes they are black and show traces of red. One can go further, and say that lovers of Negoro share a „wabi“ aesthetic. That is, lovers of Negoro find beauty not in the display of cunning craftsmanship, and not in the ostentatious, but in the simple, the austere, the unadorned - or to be more exact, they find beauty where traces of black appear beneath the worn red surface, an adornment that is „natural“ the product of time. In short, „wabi“ is an aesthetic of poverty, an aesthetic that values the simple, the worn, the mellow. It is an aesthetic that finds beauty not only in the smooth face of a beauty queen, but in the wrinkled face of her grandmother.. Anyone who preferes worn jeans to brand-new jeans knows the beauty of „wabi“.

Mottainai

Mottainai, [mottainai]) is a Japanese term conveying a sense of regret concerning waste. The expression „Mottainai!“ can be uttered alone as an exclamation when something useful, such as food or time, is wasted, meaning roughly „what a waste!“ or „Don‘t waste. In addition to its primary sense of „wastefulness“, the word is also used to mean „impious; irreverent“ or „more than one deserves“. Mottainai is an old Buddhist word, which has ties „with the Shinto idea that objects have souls. Mottainai has been referred to as a tradition, a cultural practice, and an idea which is still present in Japanese culture, which has become an international concept.. Mottainai in Japanese refers to more than just physical waste (resources). It is even used to refer to thought patterns that give rise to wasteful action. Grammatically, it can be used in Japanese as an exclamation („mottainai!“) or as an adjective phrase („it feels mottainai“). There is no plural form. The collection of mottainai things could be called mottainai koto. As an exclamation („mottainai!“) it means roughly „what a waste!“ or „Don‘t waste. An English equivalent is the saying „waste not, want not.“ A more elaborate meaning conveys a sense of value and worthiness and may be translated as „do not destroy (or lay waste to) that which is worthy. However, mottainai is an example of a word, like sukiyaki and sushi, that cannot easily or accurately be translated directly into other languages.

Mark Rothko

Negoro lacquer is often compared by art collectors and art specialists to the paintings of Mark Rothko. Mark Rothko born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was an American painter of Russian descent. Although Rothko himself refused to adhere to any art movement, he is generally identified as an abstract expressionist. With Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, he is one of the most famous postwar American artists.

Kurosawa Akira

The Film director Kurosawa Akira was also a known collector of Negoro and he frequently exhibited masterpieces such as ritual sake bottles „heishi“ circular trays „bon“ and trays with ancled corners „ô-shiki“. In the film „Thrones of Blood“ a large number of Negoro were featured in a banquet scene. At Kurosawa‘s home Negoro trays and plates were often used when people from the film industry gathered there.

Museum of Modern Art

Kazumi Murose, urushi artist and a Living National Treasure was contracted to produce a Negoro lacquer door for the MOA Museum of Modern Art.

Symbolic of the Colors Red & Black

Red: Activity, dynamism, vitality, energy, determination love, strength, temperament, passion fire, danger, warning, blood, rage, blood, happyness, wealth

Black: Power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, evil, unhappiness

Here some ebonite pens with negoro lacquer manufactured by Manu Propria Pens in Switzerland

Best regards,

Martin

May 7, 2018

Sigh. Those pens are gorgeous. But, well, urushi. So for me they are "look but don't touch...."

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

May 7, 2018

Actually, Urushi is more robust and has a much longer longevity tha all the celluloids and 2Ks

If you burry one of these pens, it will be found in 500 years in the like new condition. There were urushi objects found over 5000 years old still in fine condition. Urushi is resistant against Acids and leaches like sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid and even aqua regia which resolves Gold. Think about

May 7, 2018

Yeah, and I've read that archaeologists got allergic reactions from 5000 year old Chinese lacquer boxes.

Urushiol oil is the same stuff as poison ivy/poison oak resin, and I am HIGHLY allergic. The last time I had poison ivy it went systemic and I had it for six WEEKS. It took three runs of steroids to knock it out (the prednisolone prescribed at the ER was useless, and the first run of prednisone knocked it down but then it came back. So I got sent to an allergist who prescribed *another* round of prednisone, starting with five pills a day and working down to a half a pill a day.

Maki-e and urushi pens are beautiful. But I'm not buying a pen I'd have to wear rubber or latex gloves to use.... Plus they're often freaking expensive (early on in my pen collecting, I found a website full of maki-e pens, and told my husband "Look dear, I've just saved you twenty THOUSAND dollars...").

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

May 8, 2018

Thanks for your comment but honestly spoken it's all Bull***t, silly information spread by hysteric academics.

Urushi in its liquid state is indeed aggressive and many people react more or less to it. But once it has hardened it is completely safe. In Asia urushi is mainly used for soup bowls, chop ticks cooking tools, almost everything related to food and cooking. The reason is, that urushi has anti-bacterial properties. In old China drinking water reservoirs have been lacquered for keeping water clean.

I have many lacquer friends in Japan and I have never heard about one single case that a customer got a "rash"

May 8, 2018

Well clearly those people were not as sensitive as I am. Because the last time I had it, I started out the morning with what I thought was a spider bite on my arm. Put Benedryl cream on it. Went to the thing my husband and I were going to (meeting people in Saugus, MA). Then a bunch of us went walking in the woods around Boxford, north of Boston. By 2 PM, when we all went to lunch, I had poison ivy EVERYWHERE. And I was not exactly brushing up against trees when I was in the woods, and I was NOT wearing shorts. Had to stop in the local ER on the way home from lunch. Had it for six WEEKS.

Whereas a friend of mine from college bragged about rolling around in a patch of the stuff at his Boy Scout camp.

It could very well be that after centuries of use the Japanese have built up antibodies. But kindly do NOT call stuff BS just because *YOU* haven't personally found the reference (no, I don't remember where I read about it -- it was some magazine article in the doctor's office years ago). It could have been a case where the person reacting was like me -- hyper-sensitive. But I don't CARE how "cured" you claim it is. I CANNOT take the risk. Period. If I'm eating off off those plates it will likely cause a reaction in me and (in that case) will hit inner organs -- kinda like how you should never burn poison ivy because the stuff gets into your lungs. YOU can eat off that stuff, write the pens, etc., all you like. That's your choice. Me? I'll pass because I don't want to have another $400 US water bill for the quarter from washing my sheets every day to make sure I wasn't re-infecting myself.... Or end up in another emergency room.

There's a thread on here from a couple of years ago where someone said "I kept getting a rash on my chin and couldn't figure out why...." It turned out the person kept scratching his/her chin with the end of the pen (which was some urushi/maki-e pen), when pausing for thought while writing. That's all the proof *I* need.

YMMV

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

ETA: And just because YOU haven't heard about an allergic reaction doesn't mean it doesn't exist -- I used to know someone who could not be in the same BUILDING as fish being cooked because she would go into anaphylactic shock just from what was in the air from the kitchen.

Edited May 8, 2018 by inkstainedruth

May 8, 2018

Oh, and maybe 30 seconds of Google search netted me this:

https://books.google.com/books?id=LWlmzLYNhI4C&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=allergic+reaction+to+urushiol+archaeology&source=bl&ots=Ac_XHk9QyP&sig=Wgx6rC1Rs0-qJwDJqb4D5zVvxt4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwit4JC_vvbaAhUkwVkKHfSpCkI4ChDoAQhHMAg#v=onepage&q=allergic%20reaction%20to%20urushiol%20archaeology&f=false

and this:

https://books.google.com/books?id=F8GuEM4YJcUC&pg=PA149&lpg=PA149&dq=allergic+reaction+to+urushiol+archaeology&source=bl&ots=3h4XSB1Nyg&sig=6AXQljtvH0clrIfIcLxFbyeEQhE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwit4JC_vvbaAhUkwVkKHfSpCkI4ChDoAQhNMAo#v=onepage&q=allergic%20reaction%20to%20urushiol%20archaeology&f=false

Note that while the second citations says the risk of allergic reaction after curing is slight, it does NOT say "non-existent" (top of the second column on the page).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

May 8, 2018

If you meet cured urushi and poison ivy the same day and you get an allergic reaction you would better assume it is from the poison ivy than from the cured urushi.

Anecdotal evidence from "someone's allergy problems" is typically worthless as you don't know against what that person is allergic. Could be something else, or not? There is too much assuming without any scientific proof.

Better get yourself fully tested and knowing your problems before you distribute claims that cured urushi is unsafe. This is called distributing FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt).

When my mother did like you and assumed she was allergic against something, she got a full test and found out, she wasn't allergic against it but against something else she would have never thought. Now she avoids that material and everything is OK.

May 9, 2018

All I know is that the article I read said that someone had an allergic reaction to a lacquerware box found at an archaeological site in China. Was there poison ivy/oak/sumac growing there at the site? I don't know. What it said was that someone handled the box and got a rash from it. Just like someone rubbed the end of their maki-e pen on their chin and got a rash and posted about it (and I doubt that person was sitting in poison ivy patch while they were writing -- but you can go find the thread and PM that person and ask -- be my guest).

And I'm NOT saying that other people would necessarily have a reaction. I'm saying that I likely WOULD. And no, I don't "need" to be tested for that -- I already know I'm allergic. I've been allergic since I was five or six. So I generally pay pretty close attention to where I'm walking (even in my own yard -- and we don't let the cats out partly for that reason) and if I see it growing I spray the snot out of it. And as a result, I choose to let discretion be the better part of valor and don't pick up anyone's urushi pens. Or on the extremely rare occasion that I do I make sure I wash my hands immediately.

You know, mke, I'm getting just a *little* tired of other people telling me about myself and how I'm "fear-mongering". Because you don't know me. Like I said, I had a friend in college who rolled around in the stuff at Scout camp because he was immune (or at least claimed to be). You may buy all the urushi pens your little heart desires. Just don't hand one to me. Because I personally can't take the risk. I don't care how many centuries it's supposedly been "cured". Is that "fear-mongering" or recognizing a potential hazard and avoiding it? You say the former, but I call it the latter. And that is all I EVER said. So I will thank you to not put words in my mouth, or take what I said out of context.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

May 9, 2018

Thank you Ruth.

If you are hyper sensitve I am very sorry. But the majority of people are not.

In Japan they say if someone got a rsh "she or he got blssed"

May 9, 2018

Blessed? They wouldn't think that if it went systemic on them....

A friend of mine lived in Japan for six years. I think she's likely coming to a symposium next month that I'm involved with (one of the non-class activities). I'll ask her if she ever ran across Negoro in her travels and researches (although given that she is perennially broke and effectively retired at this point she may not have). But she does teach classes on various aspects of medieval Japanese culture, so she may at least know of this type of work.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth