Translator: Masako Kigami Reviewer: Tomoyuki Suzuki
I wear Japanese traditional costume.
I am slightly uncomfortable
with putting a mic on kimono.
I hope I look OK.
What is shown on the back screen is one of my ongoing works.
I've been making my works by using maki-e,
the Japanese traditional lacquer technique.
Over 1,000 years have passed
since the technique was established, uniquely in Japan
by creating new design of each era.
We've succeded in this special technology
until present day without abandoning it.
I would like you to explain the technology of maki-e.
Maki-e is a very unique technique to draw a picture
with lacquer, and to sprinkle gold or silver powders on it
before the lacquer is solidified.
I think the image is not clear, so, today, I brought a tool
to sprinkle powders to show you how it works.
Hold it with fingers and flick like this way.
We design the graduation by adjusting the amount of the powders.
Can you hear the sound of flicking?
I think it sounded the same 1,000 years ago.
I am a Maki-e craftsman.
Today I want to talk about lacquer,
a natural material for maki-e.
Imagine a kanji character.
This is it.
Any kanji characters of trees
such as plums, cherries and pines
have this 'tree part'.
That's Japanese character standard.
But lacquer is an exception.
I think it is the only exception among
many kanji characters of trees．
Surprisingly, lacquer is combined with water related part indeed.
This right hand side of the kanji
means, as shown by this cartoon,
that sap is exhumed from a scratched tree.
The kanji for lacquer is difficult to write.
The lacquer has not been useful as a tree,
but as sap producers since the establishment of kanji.
This is the history of lacquer.
I hope anyone who couldn't write this kanji character,
can write it now.
(Laughter)
Water plus sap exhumed from a cut tree. Right?
Practice it when you go back home.
(Laughter)
So it is the most important to know
how lacquer is used.
Sap exhumed from the urushi tree
is like human blood.
When we cut this skin, blood bleeds,
and scabs develop to protect our body.
Similarly, lacquer congregates around the cut of the tree.
It protects the scar by clotting,
in response to the temperature and the moisture in the air.
We collect the sap
with a spatula one by one before clotting,
and we can use it.
Actually, lacquer is very adhesive
and is capable to bind
metals, potteries and everything together.
Moreover, solidified lacquer can be
highly protective coating.
Not only it has a resistance to water and heat,
it also holds with perfection
even if you pour
concentrated hydrochloric or sulfuric acid in the coated cup.
You may think lacquer is weak,
but, actually it is beautiful and strong.
It is unique among natural coating materials on earth
and also artificial ones.
Surprisingly, forerunners have used laquer as the coating material
for 10,000 years.
However, in the last 50 years,
our lives have been flooded by plastic wares.
So we don't use lacquer wares so much.
We have an impression that lacquer wares are
expensive and plastic wares are cheap.
Ａs I mentioned earlier, the lacquer is
beautiful, elegant material which has soft touch to the skin.
It is also resistive.
Please think of such merits again.
At the beginning of this year, I had a chance
to see Yuichiro Miura, adventurer.
He is now 80 years old, and is making his third trial to climb Mt. Everest.
In our talk, he said, "In such very frigid area,
over 6,000 meters high, beyond the base camp,
plastic and metal wares are useless
because food gets cold quickly."
So I replied, "The wooden lacquered wares
keep it warm for long without cooling foods."
Then, he said, "I want to bring it on the next excursion.
So I made it for him immediately.
Mr. Miura brought it this time.
I told him that I deliver a speech here,
and then, I received that picture with his message three days ago,
"I am using it like this way at the base camp".
He will finally climb to the summit next week.
Once he reaches the summit,
I hope he will share the story.
Lacquer is very popular in Europe and America.
Actually we can date it back to the 16th century approximately.
As is well known to us,
Christian culture arrived Japan in the late 16th century
together with guns, wine and castella
as is well known to you.
But you may not know large amounts of maki-e lacquer wares
were ordered, manufactured, and exported.
Those have been carefully stored in European churches.
Despite the seclusion policy in Edo period,
lacquer wares were manufactured and exported to Europe.
Since that time, 18th and 19th centuries,
lacquer has been called "japan".
Unfortunately, as you know
it is now called "lacquer" in English.
I am very disappointed with it.
As I mentioned it before
the wonderfulness and the power of this material can never be described
by the expression 'lacquer".
The genre of the craft
can be extended slightly.
Similarly, Japanese culture of craft embraces
not only the field of the daily craft but also rare crafts
which are made only once a year or once in a whole life.
The genre of the craft includes such things also.
Japanese crafts may be the objects, which can be used in daily life.
But, it does not necessarily mean those should be used.
Such object designed for pure art are also part of Japanese crafts.
It has such a wide range.
Ultimately, I can say,
Japanese draw pictures on daily objects such as
folding screens and fusuma screens.
So it is the Japanese culture
to decorate daily commodities
with art works.
I strongly object to equate 'kogei'
to the genre of the craft, which is
purely designed for daily use.
I do hope you, listeners here now think
that 'urushi' is not lacquer,
and that 'kogei' is not craft.
I hope foreign people will accept them.
Urushi is a sustainable natural material,
which can be recycled repeatedly
without destroying the environment.
In fact, it is not a short cycle
like 50 years or 100 years,
but a long cycle of 400 years, 500 years or 1,000 years.
I brought here this tiny container today.
Actually it was coated 400 years ago.
It looks beautiful as if it was lacquered very recently.
Urushi can be used for such a very long time.
I think it is not crucial to achieve something
in our lives, but,
the sense of values will be certainly inheritated to the next geneation
even if it is not recognized now.
That is what we can learn from urushi.
Actually, I sympathized with my father's sense of values on urushi
so, I have chosen this vocation.
My sons also identified with
my sense of value on urushi, and are working as urushi craftsmen.
Make slowly.
Use slowly.
Hand over to the next generations slowly.
It is the nature of urushi culture.
Please think of this wonderful
natural material again.
Finally, I show you this picture of meal in my home.
White rice, miso soup and grilled cut salmon.
It is a very simple meal,
but urushi really make us heart-warming.
In fact, white rice get cold quickly
if it is served in a bowl soon,
but it is kept warm in an urushi ware.
It is very delicious.
So please try urushi wares.
More often you use urushi wares,
more beautiful your skin is going to be.
Both craftsmen and user will make it better.
Once again please love and use urushi.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)