「漆　Urushi lacquer」カテゴリーアーカイブ

In Japan we have been using urushi lacquer for more than 9000 years. Its’ superb characteristics are still the best as a natural coatings. We are conscious to keep this natural resource and the heritage to use them wisely in our everyday life.

漆　Urushi lacquer

Preserving Japanese Urushi Lacquer　　　　　　(日本産漆の保存) 　　　　　　 Ichikiro no Kai (壱木呂の会)

2件のコメント


Japanese traditional lacquerware is made by applying natural urushi lacquer many times and in many ways over wood or other natural materials.

The use of urushi lacquer history in Japan dates back for more than 9000 years and it is the oldest use in the world.  Therefore, you see that it is deeply rooted in our heart by nature.

Urushi lacquer collection by a collector. At Daigo Ibaragi-pref. Japan.壱木呂の会の奥久慈での漆の採取。
Urushi lacquer collection by a collector. First cutting a groove to extract urushi sap.  At Okukuji(奥久慈) Ibaragi-pref. Japan
fresh urushi sap lacquer coming out from Japanese urushi tree. 日本の漆の木からの漆が流れ出てくる様子。
Fresh clear urushi sap oozing out from the urushi tree. It will become the urushi lacquer.     At Okukuji(奥久慈) Ibaragi-pref. Japan

Urushi lacquer is the most important material not only to make the traditional lacquerware but even temples and shrines. It is the most durable and hard organic coating material available from the nature that exceeds many artificial coating materials from many aspects of properties.

Urushi lacquer is a natural sap of urushi tree , which can be extracted only for about 150 cc to 200 cc in total from one tree in its life time of 10 to 20 years.

Fresh urushi sap lacquer coming out from Japanese urushi tree. 日本の漆の木からの漆が流れ出てくる様子。
Urushi sap already turned in to milky white color.
At Okukuji(奥久慈 ) Ibatragi-pref. Japan

 

When the tree is fresh cut the urushi sap is clear, and soon it will turn into milky white color by its oxidization.

As mentioned, the natural urushi lacquer has been collected in Japan for thousands of years. However the demand for the urushi lacquer has been exceeding the supply in Japan for more than 200 years. Therefore we had been importing the same natural urushi lacquer from China for over 200 years. Currently the supply volume of the Japanese urushi lacquer in Japan is about 2% of the market. 98% is  from China.

Japanese urushi lacquer is said to have harder properties and the shinner gloss compared to Chinese urushi lacquer. However the price of the Japanese urushi lacquer is ten times the price of Chinese ones.  So in Japan, even the good urushi lacquer products have Japanese urushi lacquer used mostly only on the top coatings, to have better cosmetics and durability, among many layers of urushi coatings applied to make one lacquerware.

Ichikiro-no-Kai (壱木呂の会） is an NPO that have a mission to help preserve the supply of Japanese urushi lacquer.

The preservation is need not only to the trees itself, but the whole supply system of the Japanese urushi lacquer. The most difficult part is the collector, that need many years of practice to become a good collector. How to extract good urushi sap depends not only when the groove is cut, but from the time how he treats the urushi tree to grow,like trimming branches or smoothing barks or weeding of

Urushi tree of Kogei Styling. Urushi tree named after Kogei Styling from the contribution to Ichikiro-no-Kai. 日本工芸スタイリングの漆の木。
Urushi tree named after Kogei Styling from the contribution to Ichikiro-no-Kai.

the area to give more sunshine. Even the collecting tools are also in danger that the craftsmen to make the tool is already very old and rare that they can not make any more.

The picture on the right shows the urushi tree farm made by Ichikiro-no-Kai. The trees are maintained by the donation to the NPO.

Kogei Stying hopes to increase the contribution to the Ichikiro-no-Kai with the support from our customers.