Daigo Urushi: Japan’s Top Lacquer and the History of Its Art

A wooden urushi oke bucket (left) used to hold the harvested sap that is lacquer’s raw material. Once wood particles are removed, the material is called kiurushi (raw lacquer), which is whipped into a homogenous mixture in a process called nayashi. After the kurome process of heating and evaporating moisture content, it becomes translucent, viscous, refined urushi lacquer.

A tree during sap harvesting.

Nidaira Yoshihiro, head of the Daigo Lacquer Preservation Society (right), and the first society head Tobita Yūzō.