Japan · Lacquerware / Relief Decoration
堆錦 (Tsuikin)
Tsuikin (堆錦) is Ryukyu lacquer's relief-appliqué technique. Thoroughly heat-processed kurome lacquer is mixed with pigment and beaten with a hammer into a pliable cake, tsuikin-mochi, one for each color. The cake is rolled thin and fixed to a temporary board with lacquer. There it is patterned, modeled in relief or layered, then peeled off and applied to the object to fit the design. Ryukyu's official history, the Kyūyō, credits its invention to Higa Jōshō in 1715. But the technique already appears in a Ming Chinese craft book of the early 17th century, so it had spread from Ryukyu to China before that date, and similar techniques exist in Thailand. It can be die-cut for repeated motifs, combined with raden, or carved. Splitting the cake into layers and blended gradations (bokashi) were developed in the Taishō era. Trade sources say roughly 80% of Ryukyu lacquer carries tsuikin decoration, which makes it the tradition's signature technique rather than chinkin.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not inscribed. Covered by 'Ryukyu Shikki' METI Traditional Craft Product (1986) and Okinawa Prefecture intangible cultural property 'Ryukyu shikki'
Ukiyo-e nishiki-e (浮世絵錦絵 — 'floating world brocade picture') is the multi-color woodblock printing tradition of Edo (Tokyo) — developed from 1765 by Suzuki Harunobu and producing the iconic prints of the Edo period that transformed…
Beppu Take Zaiku (別府竹細工) is Japan's foremost bamboo craft tradition — centered in Beppu City, Oita Prefecture (Kyushu) and encompassing the widest range of bamboo weaving structures of any single tradition in the world: madake bamboo (真竹…
Mashiko-yaki (益子焼) is the folk pottery tradition of Mashiko Town, Tochigi Prefecture — transformed from a regional utilitarian tradition into an internationally recognized folk craft center by Hamada Shoji (濱田庄司, 1894–1978), Living…
Chibana hanaori (知花花織) is the float-weave of the former Misato Village, today's Chibana, Noborikawa and Ikehara districts of Okinawa City.
Yaeyama minsā (八重山ミンサー) is a narrow indigo cotton sash, about 10 cm wide, woven on Ishigaki and Taketomi as a warp-rib (warp-faced) cloth with a white hand-bound ikat.
Kintsugi ('golden joinery') is the Japanese lacquer-and-precious-metal technique for repairing broken ceramics, in which fractured pieces are rejoined using urushi lacquer and the resulting seams are finished with dusted gold, silver, or…
Lao gold-on-black lacquerware (ເຄື່ອງລັກ kheung lak) is the Buddhist ritual and decorative lacquer tradition of the Lao Loum people — producing manuscript cabinets, alms bowls, trays, and temple objects in black lacquer with gold leaf…
Fuzhou bodiless lacquer (脱胎漆器) is one of the most technically remarkable lacquer traditions in the world: a vessel or object form is built up entirely from layers of raw lacquer and cloth — then the interior mold (clay or plaster) is…
Sơn mài is the Vietnamese lacquer tradition — distinct from Korean ottchil (CRAFT-0020) and Japanese urushi in its multi-layer color technique and grinding-back process.
Application of multiple layers of black lacquer (Lak tree resin) on teak or bamboo substrates, followed by gold leaf application on a tacky intermediate coat to create intricate decorative motifs on the black ground.
A pre-Hispanic Guerrero lacquer tradition centered on the rayado ("scratched" or incised) technique, in which a design is carved through a top layer of colored lacquer to reveal a contrasting layer beneath, then further embellished with…
A layered lacquer technique with origins entirely independent of and predating contact with Asian lacquerware, in which fat rendered from a scale insect (aje) is combined with plant oil and powdered dolomite or lime-rich earth to build a…