津軽塗 (Tsugaru-nuri); technique term togidashi kawari-nuri (研ぎ出し変り塗); nickname baka-nuri ('foolish lacquering')
Lacquerware of the Hirosaki area of Aomori Prefecture in which patterns are built up in many layers of colored lacquer and then revealed by repeated grinding and polishing back through the layers (togidashi kawari-nuri). Four styles are practiced today: kara-nuri (speckled pattern made with a perforated spatula), nanako-nuri (fish-roe rings made with scattered rapeseed), monsha-nuri (patterns in black lacquer on a black ground using burnt rice-husk ash) and nishiki-nuri (a brocade-like development of nanako-nuri in which classical scroll and sayagata patterns are painted in black lacquer over a nanako ground and finished with tin powder). Aomori Prefecture counts 48 steps for kara-nuri. It is the only Aomori craft designated a Traditional Craft by Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (1975), and in 2017 the technique became Aomori's first Important Intangible Cultural Property.
Risk level: Vulnerable (small number of workshops; nishiki-nuri is described as extremely rare because few artisans can do it) · Not inscribed. In Japan: Traditional Craft (Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry), 1975; Important Intangible Cultural Property (craft technique, lacquer art) designated 2 October 2017, with the Tsugaru-nuri Technique Preservation Society recognized as holder organization (Agency for Cultural Affairs database). The Society was founded in 2001; the craft was a Hirosaki City intangible cultural property in 2015 and an Aomori Prefecture skill in 2016 before the national designation. Lacquerware was the second craft after Wajima-nuri designated together with a holder group.
The lathe-turning and hand-painting of kokeshi, limbless wooden dolls with a cylindrical body and round head, made by kijishi — woodturners of Japan's Tohoku region who otherwise produced bowls, trays, and household utensils — who began…
The koto (琴/箏) is Japan's national instrument — a 13-stringed zither 180cm in length produced from paulownia (桐 kiri) wood.
Urushi-kaki (漆掻き — lacquer scraping) is the practice of harvesting urushi sap from the Toxicodendron vernicifluum lacquer tree — the raw material for all Japanese lacquerware (CRAFT-0460, 0468, 0471).
Bingata (紅型 — crimson/abundant pattern) is the royal court textile dyeing tradition of Okinawa (formerly Ryukyu Kingdom) — the only Japanese regional dyeing tradition with a distinct non-mainland origin: Bingata reflects the Ryukyu…
Ōshima Tsumugi (大島紬) is the luxury silk weaving tradition of Amami Oshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture — the most expensive silk textile in Japan and one of the most technically complex textile traditions in the world.
Arita-yaki (有田焼) is Japan's first true porcelain tradition — established after Korean potter Yi Sam-pyeong discovered the kaolin deposit at Izumiyama in 1616 CE, and quickly becoming Japan's primary export ceramic to Europe through the…
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 traditional Maldivian decorative technique in which turned wooden vessels boxes and architectural elements are coated with successive layers of natural resin lacquer (liyelaa) colored with mineral and organic pigments and incised with a…
Two related but visually and historically distinct lacquer-miniature painting traditions, both descended, like Palekh (CRAFT-1871), from icon-painting centers whose masters turned to secular papier-mâché box painting after the 1917…
Bagan yun (ယွန်းထည်) is the supreme lacquerware tradition of Myanmar — produced in and around Bagan and Mandalay for over a thousand years and widely considered the finest lacquerware tradition in Southeast Asia.
Mon lacquerware (မွန်ယွန်း mon yun) is the lacquer tradition of the Mon people of Mon State and the Bago Region — a tradition older than Bagan yun (CRAFT-0422) since the Mon civilization preceded the Bamar in the lower Irrawaddy.
The harvesting of leaf-bud resin from the mopa mopa tree (Elaeagia pastoensis Mora), and its transformation — by boiling, hand-and-teeth chewing, dyeing, and stretching into paper-thin colored sheets, often layered with silver leaf — into…