Glossary

Bengara urushi

A brownish red urushi made by adding red iron oxide to translucent urushi. Also known as e-urushi.

Chinkin

A decorating technique that involves carving into the urushi surface. Urushi is then rubbed into the carved grooves and gold or silver leaf, powder, or colour pigments is then put into them.

E-urushi

See bengara urushi

Fude

A paintbrush

Hake

A broad brush made from the hair of Asian women and used for naka-nuriand uwa-nuri. The strength of the hair is perfect for the consistency of urushi.

Hera

A wooden paddle that is shaped and thinned and used to apply undercoats of shitaji.

Hikimono

A wooden body turned on a lathe to make circular shaped bases such as bowls or boxes.

Hyomon

The decoration of an urushi surface using pieces of cut out thin metal foil typically in gold or silver.

Ikkanbari

Lacquerware that has a Japanese washi (paper) finish.

Jinoko

A kind of clay powder mixed with urushi for the foundation layers of urushi application. There are two kinds of jinoko: Kyoto (or Yamashita) jinoko and Wajima jinoko which is made by baking diatomaceous earth (earth that is rich in the fossilized remains of ancient plankton and algae with minute cavities which mixed with urushi absorbs it and produces lacquerware of great durability) to remove organic materials and then sifted. There are four grades of jinoko in Wajima classified according to coarseness: ippenji (grade 1 which is the coarsest), nihenji (grade 2), sanbenji (grade 3), and yonhenji (grade 4 which is the finest). The use of jinoko is one of the main reasons that Wajima-nuri has achieved a reputation as perhaps the most durable kind of lacquerware.

Keshifun

Gold leaf ground into a fine powder.

Kiji

A wooden body that is one way of forming a base for lacquerware (see also hikimono, magemono, kurimono and sashimono).

Kijidame

The technique of applying coats of translucent urushi so the original wood grain can still be seen.

Kiji maki-e

A maki-e technique which by either leaving a wood ground unlacquered or sealed with a transparent lacquer coating creates a design with the wood grain background still visible.

Kijomi

Kijomi refers to ki-urushi in the Tokyo area of Japan.

Ki-urushi

The name given to urushi in its raw state after being taken from the urushi tree.

Kokuso

A mixture of sawdust, rice glue, urushi and jinoko used as a filler especially to reinforce joints.

Kurimono

A wooden base made by sculpting or carving wood using chisels.

Kuro urushi

Black urushi which can be made in two ways. Translucent black urushi can be made by adding iron hydroxide to suki-urushi; the urushi reacts with the iron and the resulting chemical reaction causes the urushi to turn black. Opaque black urushi can be made by adding lamp soot or pine soot (carbon black) to suki-urushi.

Translucent black urushi will turn brown over time but opaque black urushi which is often used as an undercoat will remain black.

Magemono (Magiwa)

A wooden base made using strips of wood bent around a mold and building the body from layering the strips.

Maki-e

A collective term for the traditional techniques for decorating lacquerware (excluding carving). The literal translation of which is "sprinkled picture".

Makiji

A technique of sprinkling jinoko onto an urushi layer to make up the base coats.

Mugi-urushi

An extremely strong mixture made by mixing ki-urushiinto wheat flour that has been kneaded with water into a dough.

Naka-nuri

The middle coating stage of urushi application for which suki-urushi, kuro-urushior coloured urushi is used. These coats are of pure urushi and are applied thinly with a brush.

Nobe urushi

A mix of rice glue and ki-urushi.

Nuno kise

The application of linen reinforcement to a wooden body.

Nuri-tate

Leaving the final coat of urushi unpolished.

Raden

The decoration of urushiware using pieces of shell. There are typically three types of shell used in this technique: abalone, pearl oyster shell and turban shell. Atusgai (lit. thick shell) raden uses shell that has a thickness of between 0.5 to 1 mm and usugai (lit. thin shell) raden uses shell that has been thinned down to less than 0.1 mm.

Rankaku

The decoration of urushiware using fragments of quail egg shell arranged in mosaic like designs.

Rantai

A body made of bamboo.

Ro-iro age

The technique of producing a high gloss finish by repeated suri-urushi and polishing.

Sabi

A mix of clay and ki-urushi used mainly as a filler.

Sashimono

A form of joinery using various techniques to make angular boxes, trays and other vessels.

Seshime

Seshime is shitaji urushi tapped from urushi trees late in the season and which have a comparatively low urushiol content.

Shippi

A body made of raw animal hide.

Shitaji

The term given to the foundation layers of urushi application. Usually it is a mixture of jinoko, rice glue, urushi and clay.

Shuai urushi

Suki-urushi mixed with a little vegetable oil to produce a glossy finish without having to do roiro age.

Shu urushi

Translucent urushi is mixed with red pigments to produce various shades of red.

Suki-urushi

Translucent urushi which is made by removing water content from ki-urushi.

Suri-urushi

Rubbing ki-urushiinto an urushi surface to enhance the lustre on subsequent polishing or to fix gold or silver powder used in maki-e.

Sutenaka nuri

The first coat of pure urushi after the undercoat of shitaji. It's main function is to allow the shape of the body to be seen clearly.

Taka age

Another term for taka maki-e.

Tame-nuri

Suki-urushiapplied to a red urushi surface so that the red can be seen through the translucent top coat.

Taka maki-e

A decoration technique in which urushi or an urushi foundation material is used to create a raised design which is often sprinkled with gold or silver powder to accentuate the pattern.

Togidashi maki-e

A design is created using maki-e techniques such as gold and silver powder which are sprinkled onto the lacquered surface and then given a final coat. The design is then sanded and polished through producing a completely flat glass-like finish.

Tonoko

A kind of clay (finer than jinoko) that is mixed with urushi and used in the foundation layers of urushi application.

Urumi urushi

A mix of bengara and black roiro urushi to make brown.

Urushi

The sap from the urushi tree (Rhus vernicifera) indigenous to Asia. The trees in China and Japan are particularly suitable for lacquerware production.

Urushiol

Urushiol is one of the main components of urushi sap and the higher the content of urushiol, the better the quality of urushi. It influences the hardening of urushi and gives lacquerware its durability.

Uwa-nuri

The final application of a coating of pure urushi.

Wajima-nuri

Urushiware produced in Wajima on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It is the only lacquerware in Japan to be supported by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

Yami makie

A black on black maki-e technique.