Ryukyu LacquerwarePhoto：Okinawa Convention&Visitors Bureau

  • Lacquerware
  • Okinawa

Ryukyu Lacquerware Ryukyu Shikki

Ryukyu Lacquerware is known for the striking contrast of vivid vermilion and black lacquer, enhanced by a wide range of decorative techniques such as tsuikin, chinkin, gold-leaf decoration, and mother-of-pearl inlay. Tsuikin, in particular, is a distinctive Okinawan technique using lacquer mixed with pigments to create raised motifs. It was designated a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government in 1986.

Description

What is Ryukyu Lacquerware ?

Ryukyu Lacquerware is produced in several parts of Okinawa Prefecture, including Naha, Urasoe, Itoman, Okinawa City, Tomigusuku, Nakagusuku, and Haebaru. On March 12, 1986, it was designated as a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government.

One of the defining characteristics of Ryukyu Lacquerware is its vivid vermilion and black lacquer surfaces combined with a wide variety of decorative techniques. Among them, tsuikin is a distinctive technique developed in the Ryukyu Islands. Lacquer and pigments are kneaded together into a pliable material, rolled into thin sheets, cut into decorative motifs, and applied to the lacquered surface. The applied motifs may then be further carved or colored to create richly layered decoration.

Other important decorative techniques include raden, which uses thin pieces of shell such as luminous turban shell or abalone; chinkin, in which designs are carved into the lacquer surface and highlighted with gold leaf or gold powder; and hakue, in which gold leaf is applied to designs painted in lacquer.

Traditional wooden bases are made from woods long used in Okinawa, including deigo, egonoki, sendan, and banyan. Local materials such as niibi and kucha are also used in traditional undercoating processes, reflecting the close relationship between Ryukyu Lacquerware and the natural resources of the islands.

Products include bowls, trays, tiered boxes, dishes, tea utensils, and ceremonial serving vessels such as tunda-bun. Decorative objects and fine art pieces are also produced.

Today, craftspeople continue to preserve traditional techniques such as tsuikin, raden, chinkin, and hakue while applying them to both traditional lacquerware and contemporary products, including accessories and lifestyle items.

History

Ryukyu Lacquerware - History Photo：Okinawa Convention&Visitors Bureau

The exact origins of Ryukyu Lacquerware are uncertain, but lacquerworking is believed to have been established in Okinawa by around the fourteenth century. Through active trade with China and other regions of East and Southeast Asia, local craftspeople absorbed a variety of lacquer techniques and developed them into a distinctive Ryukyuan tradition.

A record from 1427 indicates that the Ming emperor ordered lacquer to be purchased from Ryukyu, suggesting that lacquer and lacquerware were already important products by the fifteenth century. Diplomatic records of the Ryukyu Kingdom also show that lacquerware was involved in trade and exchange with China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and Japan.

The Ryukyu royal government established an official organization known as the Kaizuri Bugyosho to supervise lacquerware production. After the Satsuma invasion of 1609, the royal government strengthened this system and produced highly refined lacquerware for presentation to the Tokugawa shogunate and feudal lords, as well as for court ceremonies and the reception of Chinese investiture envoys.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, pieces decorated with chinkin on vermilion or green lacquer and raden on vermilion lacquer were produced. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, finely detailed raden on black lacquer became increasingly prominent. From the eighteenth century onward, vermilion lacquerware decorated with chinkin, hakue, and tsuikin became characteristic of the tradition.

Following the establishment of Okinawa Prefecture in 1879, the former royal production system came to an end and lacquerware production shifted to private workshops and companies.

The industry suffered devastating damage during World War II but was revived soon after the war. Production for members of the U.S. military and the tourist market supported the rebuilding of the industry, while new materials and manufacturing methods were also introduced.

On March 12, 1986, Ryukyu Lacquerware was designated as a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government. Today, traditional techniques such as tsuikin, raden, chinkin, and hakue continue to be preserved as an important part of Okinawa’s craft heritage.

Production Process

  1. 1. Wood base production Ryukyu Lacquerware mainly uses joinery wood bases for the production of stacked boxes and serving trays or lathe turned wood bases for the production of bowls and trays. Wood that has been dried for approximately six months is used.
    Joinery wood base production is the process of applying adhesive to a board, assembling pieces, drying, and then forming an item by cutting with a hand plane.
    Lathe turned wood base production uses either vertical sawing, with wood cut into round slices, or horizontal sawing, with wood cut lengthways.
  2. 2. Undercoating Surface scratches, cracks, and small holes are carefully covered with an undercoating of niibi sand, a mixture of small-grain sandstone and raw lacquer. This is ideal for coating coarse wood from the Indian coral tree. Then an undercoating of kucha, a mixture of mudstone powder and raw lacquer, is applied and finally the articles are dried.
  3. 3. Wet polishing This process involves grinding with a grindstone or sandpaper while applying water. Starting with rougher paper, the articles are scoured while gradually switching to finer paper. This step is repeated several times between undercoating and lacquering.
  4. 4. Intermediate coating In order to improve the finish of the overcoating, lacquer mixed with a pigment the same color as the overcoating is applied.
  5. 5. Overcoating Infrared or ultraviolet rays are applied to the raw lacquer and moisture is evaporated in a process called kurome, producing transparent lacquer. A thick mixture of lacquer and vermillion colorant is filtered with Japanese paper to produce lacquer for overcoating.
    Each piece is carefully coated using a wide paintbrush as this step is what the condition of the item is judged by. The finish of the lacquerware is affected by the temperature and weather at the time of coating, so it is essential that the artisan has a great expertise. Fine dust and air bubbles are carefully removed using a thin needlelike object and then the items are left to dry. They are then placed inside a rotating bath, where it must be ensured that lacquer does not drip, while being rotated up and down. Based on the atmospheric temperature when drying the lacquer, the color may be darkened or the lacquer may contract, so the level of humidity must be regulated carefully.
  6. 6. Decoration There is a wide variation of decorating techniques for Ryukyu Lacquerware.
    The first one is raden, a form of decoration using green turban or abalone. Shells are cut into thin pieces, which are patterned using a silkwork needle then affixed to the vessel, on top of which lacquer is applied. With this technique, once the lacquer has dried, polishing is done with a mixture of charcoal and polishing powder until the shells are visible, and finally glaze made with powder produced from deer antlers is applied.
    The embedding of gold leaf in engraved lines is called chinkin. With this technique, a raised pattern is line-engraved onto the vessel using a knife and lacquer is rubbed into the design. Then gold leaf is applied on top of the lacquer while it is still wet, and after it dries, gold leaf will remain in the design.
    For the haku-e technique, pictures drawn onto vessels are outlined with red iron oxide lacquer, after which the inside of the pattern is coated and gold leaf is pasted when the item is partially dried. This technique leaves a golden pattern when excess gold leaf is removed with a brush. Once the article has completely dried, black lacquer is used to outline the pictures and then it is complete.
    Lastly, there is a technique unique to Ryukyu Lacquerware called tsuikin where a pattern is cut from a pigmented lacquer sheet which is then pasted on the item. Then the rest of the piece is carved and colored.

Facility Information

TENBUSU NAHA

TENBUSU NAHA Photo:Okinawa Convention&Visitors Bureau

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