(synthesized music)
>> The most perfect and finest objects
ever issued from the hand of man.
Developed over the last 7,000 years,
urushi or Japanese lacquer is a craft in which
time moves very slowly.
Working with unlikely materials,
viscous sap, powdered metals, bits of shell,
the lacquer artist completes his work only after
months or even years of patient labor.
>> When you hold a piece of lacquer,
you may only see it's intricate design
on the surface, it's skin but beneath the skin,
there is flesh and beneath the flesh,
there is bone.
(synthesized music)
>> Raw lacquer, actually the sap of a tree,
is gathered in much the same way as
latex from a rubber tree.
Diagonal notches are cut into the bark
and the sap is collected into containers.
A single mature tree may produce less than
half a cup of sap each season
and then must not be tapped again for a few years.
So precious is this resource
that at various times in Japanese history,
the cultivation of lacquer trees has been
a matter of law.
One distinctive drawback of raw lacquer is that
it contains a toxic substance which can cause
severe skin irritation.
The tree, Rhus verniciflua, is a close relative
to Rhus diversiloboa,
known in the west as poison oak.
Lacquer craftsmen must expose themselves
to the leaves little by little
in order to build up an immunity.
Once properly hardened, lacquer produces a
lusterous and extremely durable coating
resistant to moisture, heat, salts and even
mild acids and alkalies.
Unlike any other substance,
lacquer can be painted, carved and molded,
lending itself to a wide range of artistic expression.
(synthesized music)
Japanese culture makes great use of wood,
not only for architecture but also for sculpture
and for innumerable objects of everyday use.
So it is fitting that wood is the material
most commonly used for the base
or inner core of lacquerware.
(synthesized music)
The woods, zelkova, cherry, pine
and Japanese Cyprus,
are selected after careful scrutiny and then
allowed to dry for as long as seven years to
assure that they will never warp.
>> I use only the driest cores in my work.
If I were to use uncured cores
and the lacquer would begin cracking in 50 years,
I would not be able to rest in peace in my grave.
>> The Kajishi or core maker turns circular
pieces of lathe, working with progressively finer
tools until the base is only
one or two millimeters thick.
The core maker's final step is to sand the base
even thinner until finally light can be seen
coming through the wood.
(synthesized music)
The nushi or lacquerer begins by sealing the
wooden core with a coat of uncolored lacquer.
After that coat has dried,
lacquer mixed with fine clay is painted on
to fill in the grain and leave a smooth surface.
Sometimes a layer of fabric is used as reinforcement.
In all, more than 20 more coats of lacquer
will go on,
ten mixed with clay, one of pure clear lacquer
four mixed with fine earth or ash,
and finally four or five of colored lacquer.
(synthesized music)
If the lacquer is applied too thickly,
the surface will harden but underneath,
it will remain liquid so it must be painted on
in very thin coats.
(synthesized music)
>> The lacquer will not dry if the air is dry.
The air must be wet.
Then the lacquer will dry.
>> When lacquer hardens,
it is not drying in the conventional sense,
but more precisely curing do to a chemical reaction
that takes place best in a moist air,
about 85% relative humidity.
Raw lacquer contains the enzyme lacase,
which acts as a catalyst for its oxidation
and results in a permanent hardening of the
viscous raw material.
The freshly lacquered objects are placed in a
tightly closed cabinet called a furrow
that can be dampened with water to maintain
the proper humidity.
(synthesized music)
After each coat, the lacquer must be carefully
polished by hand.
At first, the worker may use a pumice stone
to take down irregularities and then finer abrasives,
like charcoal, to make the surface absolutely smooth.
(synthesized music)
(raining)
>> We should not be called lacquer makers.
We should be called polishers since that is what
we spend most of our time doing.
(raining)
(synthesized music)
>> A finely lacquered object may have more than
30 coats applied and polished over a period of
several months, even years.
It is impossible to hold a lacquer piece
and not feel the sensuous curvature of its shape,
the glassy smoothness of its surface.
Made by hand, lacquer is meant for the hand
and cannot be fully appreciated by the eye alone.
(synthesized music)
When a piece is finally ready for decoration,
the lacquer artist draws the design
on a piece of thin paper
and applies iron red lacquer to the lines.
This pattern is then pressed against the
lacquer object and rubbed from behind.
The transferred design is retraced in
red painting lacquer with an animal hair brush.
Next, gold and silver powders are sprinkled
on the sticky lacquer through a screen on the
end of a bamboo tube.
It is this process that gives the technique its name,
maki-e or sprinkled design.
(synthesized music)
Left in a furrow for 12 hours,
the lacquer hardens,
trapping the powders in the patterns of the drawing.
Usually a final overcoat of clear lacquer
is applied to protect the design.
This is polished with fine mineral powders,
bone dust or charcoal until the surface
reaches a brilliant luster.
(synthesized music)
There are hundreds of different techniques
for decorating lacquer.
In maki-e alone, at least three major types
can be distinguished;
Huri maki-e or flat, sprinkled design where
the sprinkled pattern is
lacquered and polished repeatedly,
Takamaki-e or relief sprinkled design
in which sections are built up with a mixture
of lacquer and powdered charcoal to create
three-dimensional images
and the most complex, togidashi maki-e or
polished out sprinkled design where the
pattern is coated with layers of black lacquer
and then polished until the design reappears.
There are other methods, such as urishi,
painting the design directly in lacquer,
raden using mother of pearl inlayed into the surface,
and chinken where gold leaf is
laid into incise designs.
(piano music)
Behind the visual richness lie countless hours
of the lacquer craftsman's intense labor,
the training of eye and hand,
the cultivation of imagination,
total devotion to detail,
and ultimately patience.
(piano music)
(raining)
>> A name is not important.
The craftsman should not stand before the work
or even beside the work.
He should be behind the work, invisible.
I will die and turn to dust.
The lacquer will remain.
(wind chimes)
(orchestra music)