Japan Lacquer : How much do you know about lacquer?

[GoofyGame]

Thank you for your many answers.  I haven't read them yet.🙏

[fcarbon]

Thank you GoofyGame - fascinating.

[MartinPauli]

Maybe a short introduction to the complexity of only the polishing process - Uwazuri

After the final lacquer layer (uwanuri) was ground flat and “dôzuri” pre-polished with fine clay powder “tonoko” and rapeseed oil, transparent urushi lacquer (I use pure Sukurome Urushi) is rubbed into the surface and wiped off completely with paper (I use toilet paper) and cured 24 hours in the “urushi-muro”. This process is repeated several times. Then the surface is polished with polishing powder “migako”, rapeseed oil and the finger tips. (I personally repeat rubbing sukurome again afteer this process three more times) The final polishing is a dry polish done with migako and fingers only. “Uwazuri” can be repeated as many times necessary. For lacquer ware of heavy use, like “Katana Saya” and or pens 6 layers are recommended. Rubbing in lacquer fills the micro pores, saturates pigmented urushi like Red "Shû-Neri" and black "Shôen-Neri" and builds a very thin and hard surface. To resume, only polishing takes up to 10 days

[lehi53]

Thanks

[GoofyGame]

On 4/13/2021 at 5:03 PM, Aether said:

The tree used for to get the lacquer is called Toxicodendron vernicifluum.   Not specific to Japan, found all over the countries of Asia commonly known as the Chinese lacquer.  There is not a Japanese lacquer tree.

First I want to correct my remarks on this topic. Aither's suggestion is the most correct. After his suggestion, I continued to research Chinese and Japanese lacquer every day. I listened to the opinions of lacquer artists from various countries, collected lacquer samples from each country, and read books on lacquer art from each country. China's lacquer resources are very rich, and the difference in raw lacquer by production area is also very interesting. In other words, the quality of lacquer in China, which has abundant resources, is very good. However, when it comes to the process of processing lacquer, Japanese technology is still slightly ahead of Chinese technology. I expect that this difference in processing technology will disappear in the future. Chinese works, which have abundant resources, are often lavishly coated with lacquer. I like their work they don't have a culture of using machine sprays or mixing synthetic paints to deceive like Japan does. Japan's quality standards are very strictly monitored. Therefore, when we focus on Japanese stationery makers, in many cases not all processes are done by hand. This is because in Japan, even the smallest of mistakes can lead to complaints from consumers. Of course, Japanese lacquer techniques are also wonderful. However, I can assure you that the quality of Chinese lacquer is the same as that of Japan.

 

Thank you so much to Aither for making me aware of this fact. 

[GoofyGame]

On 4/14/2021 at 9:25 AM, bone215 said:

This thread is fascinating.

I don't know if everything in this article is true, but it may contribute to the ongoing dialogue .

 

"Urushi: All You Need to Know About Japanese Lacquer"

by Anne Walther & Diccon Sandrey | CRAFT

 

https://japanobjects.com/features/guide-to-masterpieces-of-japanese-lacquer

 

It seems that the subject of lacquer, its history and usage go quite deep, farther back in time than I originally thought.

 

GoofyGame, very good topic, thanks for your insight.

 

 

Hi bone215, you are correct in not believing everything about this article of mine. The description of the Japanese lacquer process in this article is true. However, I shouldn't have written about the superiority or inferiority of each country's lacquer quality. The quality of lacquer in each country is very good.

[XYZZY]

On 4/13/2021 at 10:34 AM, GoofyGame said:

I will explain the reason why lacquer is expensive from the beginning.

 

First, a professional craftsman collects lacquer liquid from the lacquer tree.  Craftsmen manually collect each tree little by little.  Only 200ml can be collected from a single lacquer tree in a year. This amount is less than a small milk bottle and cannot be collected like maple syrup.The craftsmen are getting older, and there are not 30 of them in Japan.  The method of collecting lacquer liquid in China is completely different.

 

Urushikaki-漆掻き- was registered as an intangible cultural heritage in 2018.

 

what's 漆掻き-Urushi kaki-?

the master craftsman the of act of drawing sap from a lacquer tree

 

漆掻き Urushi-kaki

 

 

 

 

 

The most expensive lacquer in the world is Joboji lacquer.  If a craftsman  make 100% Joboji lacquer without mixing it with other lacquer, all the craftsmans  will actively announce it.

 

浄法寺漆 Joboji Urushi -Iwate prefecture -

Short version 

 

Long version 

 

 

In addition, the lacquer master adjusts the lacquer himself.  Instead of using a machine, use a special wooden box called 舟-Fune-  to continue mixing for a day with dermatitis.  This ultimate lacquer is called "Tenpi Tesugurome Urushi".  I have never met  lacquer pen collectors in Japan who knows this word.  There are only a few masters in Japan who make lacquer this way.

 

Please see the number of views.  Even the Japanese are not interested in the essence of lacquer.

 

天日手素黒目漆 -Tenpitesugurome Urushi-

 

 

 

 

General lacquer is adjusted by machine.  This adjustment is absolutely necessary.  Recently, an increasing number of young craftsmans are using lacquer without adjusting it and removing only impurities.  It will be a messy finish.

 

Urushi Kurome 漆黒目機械精製

 

 

 

@GoofyGame this is an excellent thread!  Thank you so much for the information that you have provided and also elicited from others.

 

One thing I didn't notice mentioned in this thread is something in the 3rd and 4th videos above, which I have also read elsewhere on FPN, that in Japan the tree is chopped down after just one season of harvesting sap.  Although one gentleman in the 4th video mentioned that this is not always done, but not much was said about that.  I am also under the impression that in other countries it might be more common, or even normal, for the sap to be harvested for multiple years once the trees mature.  The idea of growing those trees, caring for them for ten years, and then chopping them down after just a single harvesting season is mind-boggling. But watching what they do to the bark of the tree in order to harvest the sap it would be hard to imagine they could use that method for many years on one tree, if for no other reason than running out of room on the tree 🙂

 

I don't speak Japanese, but some of those videos were either already captioned, or allowed me to enable captions.  I used a full charge of my phone while running Google translate in camera mode to dynamically translate the captions to English while the video played on the computer.  It's a great feature even if a battery hog.  It's too bad though that some of the videos don't allow enabling the captions, but they were fun to watch even if I had no idea what was being said.