Working from his home studio in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, Onihira Keiji is keeping centuries-old maki-e decorative ...

The ancient craft of urushi, or Japanese lacquerware, is one of Asia’s oldest artistic traditions. Evidence for the use of lacquer – a tree sap used to coat and decorate objects like boxes, bowls and ...

When Suzanne Ross, an English-born artisan based on Japan’s Noto Peninsula, began her 40-year career making traditional Japanese lacquerware, she was told repeatedly that only men could make ...

The traditions of Japanese lacquerware are said to stretch back millennia, and it’s widely recognized as one of the country’s representative art forms. By comparison, the Pokémon franchise has a much ...

While ceramic dishes and metal cutlery are standard fare, there’s something very satisfying about having a bowl that will grow and change as you do. While there are scores of different traditional ...

Using resin sourced from grasses, trees and other non-edible plants, Japanese technology giant NEC Corp. has developed a bioplastic that features the famous "urushi black" hue of the country's ...

"Originally published in Japanese under the title Urushi no hanashi by Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, in 1964 and newly republished as an Iwanami Bunko in 2001. The present translation is based on the ...

Lacquer is usually for precious, pricey stuff. Think handcrafted bowls and serving trays, religious artefacts in museum collections, and the facades of old shrines, temples and other architectural ...