Lot Essay
The multifarious diversity of so-called saya-nuri [scabbard-lacquering] or kawari-nuri [odd-lacquering] is said by the lacquer historian Sawaguchi Goichi to have its origins in the fief system of the Edo period (1615-1868), when local craftsmen working for Japan's many feudal lords would devise a range of special techniques for the decoration of scabbards and try to make them as different as possible from those used in the neighbouring fief. With the abolition of the public wearing of swords in 1876, kawari-nuri was increasingly applied to other items and an elaborate technical vocabulary was developed. The present lot is accompanied by a manuscript detailing each of the hundred techniques used, with a sketch keying the descriptions to the fan-shapes on the box. In contrast to Sawaguchi's 1933 listing of ninety-six techniques, with few exceptions little attention is given to the geographical origin of each technique; instead the names listed reflect the materials used [see 1 below]. A random selection of the more unusual names is translated below:
3 Kanako koban nashiji: nashiji of coin-quality gold in a "deer dappling" (a term borrowed from dyeing)
10 Oki kirikane: individually-placed kirikane
13 Gin aragane mizu togidashi: wet-polished silver and rough bronze
19 Wakasa-nuri: this is the most famous of the regional kawari-nuri [see 2 below]
25 Shippo-nuri: enamel lacquering
31 Shibayama-iri koban aragane ji: coin-quality gold and rough bronze mixed with Shibayama
33 Iji: cast ground
40 Tamago-uri nuri: egg-sellers' lacquering
42 Aodake-nuri: green bamboo lacquering
47 Kiretsu-nuri: cracked lacquering
59 Hirame uchikomi kinji: gold ground with hirame and uchikomi inlay
64 Tagayasan-nuri: blackwood lacquering
71 Umekawa-nuri: plum-bark lacquering
75 Haifun ishime ji: stone-textured charcoal-dust ground
80 Tsugaru-nuri: another famous regional technique from the north of Japan
90 Nunome-nuri: cloth-lacquering
92 Korin makie: Korin makie, after the name of the famous artist
93 Hakeme-nuri: brush-marking lacquering
1 Sawaguchi Goichi, Nihon shikko no kenkyu [A Study of Japanese Lacquer], (Tokyo, 1933; reprinted Tokyo, 1966), 293-311.
2 Fukui Prefectural Study Centre for the History and Folklore of Wakasa, Wakasa no urushinuri [Lacquering of Wakasa] (Exhibition catalogue, 26 April - May 1983; Gukui, 1983)
3 Kanako koban nashiji: nashiji of coin-quality gold in a "deer dappling" (a term borrowed from dyeing)
10 Oki kirikane: individually-placed kirikane
13 Gin aragane mizu togidashi: wet-polished silver and rough bronze
19 Wakasa-nuri: this is the most famous of the regional kawari-nuri [see 2 below]
25 Shippo-nuri: enamel lacquering
31 Shibayama-iri koban aragane ji: coin-quality gold and rough bronze mixed with Shibayama
33 Iji: cast ground
40 Tamago-uri nuri: egg-sellers' lacquering
42 Aodake-nuri: green bamboo lacquering
47 Kiretsu-nuri: cracked lacquering
59 Hirame uchikomi kinji: gold ground with hirame and uchikomi inlay
64 Tagayasan-nuri: blackwood lacquering
71 Umekawa-nuri: plum-bark lacquering
75 Haifun ishime ji: stone-textured charcoal-dust ground
80 Tsugaru-nuri: another famous regional technique from the north of Japan
90 Nunome-nuri: cloth-lacquering
92 Korin makie: Korin makie, after the name of the famous artist
93 Hakeme-nuri: brush-marking lacquering
1 Sawaguchi Goichi, Nihon shikko no kenkyu [A Study of Japanese Lacquer], (Tokyo, 1933; reprinted Tokyo, 1966), 293-311.
2 Fukui Prefectural Study Centre for the History and Folklore of Wakasa, Wakasa no urushinuri [Lacquering of Wakasa] (Exhibition catalogue, 26 April - May 1983; Gukui, 1983)