[ Urushi Lacquer ]
In all my craft work, the thing I've dealt with most is Urushi lacquer. I developed this friendship with urushi from my twenties, when I started working with kijiya woodturners and nushiya lacquerers in Wajima, Kiso, Yamanaka and Echizen. My work in reordering the lacquered items to be used in the rebuilding of Ise Grand Shrine was a vital part of my education. Currently, urushi is harvested primarily in Iwate and Aomori prefectures. Urushi is collected by cutting the bark of the urushi tree and gathering the drops of sap that well out. The work is overwhelming, collecting tiny little drops of sap that seep forth bit by bit.
It is as if urushi is born of the blood and tears of the tree. The trees are cut down after the urushi harvest. Nowadays, Japanese master urushi harvesters are a vanishing breed so many people use Chinese urushi, but I insist on only using domestic urushi. Domestic urushi is marked by its easy spread.
There is a folk tale I read long ago, telling how one should never marry an urushi harvester, as they always wander the mountains in search of sap. I think it can be argued that urushi is Japan's oldest craft, as it was used for arrowhead glue and on combs and other ornaments from the Jomon period.
My urushi lacquer work was produced with a 14th generation nushiya from Wajima, Osaki Shoemon.
Domestic urushi is carried by bucket from Tohoku and kept in a storehouse.
12/2002
Tokyo Ginza
Uchiyama
Task
Overall Planning/Concept Work/Logo Design/Interior-Design Planning/Sign Design
Shop Tool Design
Based on the idea of building a stage for the chef, we made a single lacquered wall covered with an old Noto mosquito net to serve as a backdrop for the single hinoki-cypress-plank counter. I feel the strongly contrasted black-tinged vermilion and dark burnt crimson really bring out the chef's whites.
A private room in Uchiyama contrasting the deep vermilion tabletop and the Awaji earthen walls creates a gorgeous impression.
09/2002
Tokyo Higashiazabu
Banreki Ryukodo
Task
Overall Planning/Concept Work/Logo Design/Interior-Design Planning/Sign Design
Shop Tool Design/Dish Coordination
With this shop, our goal was a reserved craft space leveraging the true quality of the natural materials, where the touch of the craftsman's hands would be almost invisible. After the large solid pine counter was installed, we lacquered it ourselves in the fuki-urushi rubbed lacquer style. When the urushi sap set into pine wood, the wood grain became truly beautiful, sparkling golden in the light.
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