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Caption: the ultimate gentle touch Urushi Ancient Japanese craft to achieve
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Caption: URUSHI is a technique based upon the toxic sap from “the lacquer tree”, Toxicodendron Vernicifluum.
Urushi craftsmen build up immunity against the toxic by exposing themselves to it in small amounts regularly.
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Caption: For the wooden object, usually a bowl, wood is selected which is dryed for 8 to 10 years. Wood which is not perfectly dry will not be sufficiently strong for when it gets sculptured till transparency or - a nightmare for the craftsman - its lacquer might crack after years.
upon the sculpture 24 to 30 very fine layers of lacquer are applied, each carefully dryed and polished. For a good drying result, lacquer needs humid weather and minimal ventilation. This way the drying happens all through. Sometimes it takes years for a lacquering process to get finalised. Most labour goes into the polishing. Polishing takes away more than half of the lacquer but it smoothens the surface and allows good adhesion for the next layer to come.
At last a high gloss top layer is applied. Sometimes this last layer is mixed with gold, silver or Urushi colors.
The total lacquer thickness remains below 0.7mm
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Caption: Since only very small amounts of sap can be retrieved once every five years, the cultivation of these trees is arranged by law and harvesting is done by experts assigned by the local authorities.
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Caption: In traditional Urushi, the wood grains are almost completely hidden between the many layers of lacquer. For the untrained eye it is difficult to distinguish a true Urushi wooden bowl from a plastic bowl.
Modern masters are now developping techniques which emphasize on both the woodgrain and the grandioze gentle touch.
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Caption: Plenty of poetry explains how to experience the ultimate gentle touch with fingers and especially lips. Esthetics are irrelevant to the ultimate experience but can enhance the experience provided there is lots of light and good smells.
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Caption: Since more than 5.000 years, lacquering has been an art in Japan.
Photography:
Christoffer Rudquist
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Caption: Each layer takes a full day to dry. For the craftsman, the look into his drying room the morning after, is the most exciting part of the day. The drying can be a success or a failure depending on the weather.
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Caption: Wajima comes out on top when it comes to the lacquer production regions in Japan