Urushi-ring is an acrylic based ring with a lacquered top created by Masako Ban, an internationally acclaimed accessory designer. Her innovative application of materials and appreciation for Japanese craft techniques has taken her design to a new frontier. The simply designed yet profoundly deep urushi-ring distills the essence of modernism in Japanese craft work today. Manufacture requires highly skilled techniques to lacquer on the small surface of the ring. and achieving the perfect color and texture takes considerable time. After much trial and error, using different craft artists, each expert in their own acrylic and lacquer techniques, and combining the sum of their skills, she perfected this unique piece in which two materials; acrylic and lacquer, delicately complement each other. This is a ring which over time as the piece ages, the gloss and colors change subtlety and the more you can appreciate its beauty.
Every surface of this side table is finished with tortoiseshell like carving, then covered in cloth, and finally coated with lacquer and polished. The hexagons that make up the surface of the table are carved to perfection and are aligned flawlessly. The texture and appearance of the table is abstract, yet eloquent. carving + kikkou (tortoiseshell) design + urushi (lacquer).Many different techniques and designs are used together to create something new and fresh in conventional times. The techniques and designs themselves aren’t modern or original. It is how the creator correlates these already existing techniques and designs in his or her unique way, to create something someone has never thought of before.
Side Table for Private Residence
Kikkou-bori (tortoiseshell carving) cloth covered and lacquered
Design: MLINARIC HENRY & ZERVUDACHI LTDl
Produced by: Ubushina,Yudai Tachikawa
Gold foil, which is pure gold, is mixed with small amounts of silver or copper, so its color may change through years.
The square corners of the photo are where water vapor from the hot springs has bubbled over and they are continuously exposed to water. Moreover, because some of the water comes from the ‘natural hot spring’, the material is corroded easily. So, gold foil was applied to the back of the acrylic board to protect the surface.
You cannot find any spot of attachment glue on the gold foil.
Even though the foil is exposed to water, it has a beautiful gloss.
Seen from the lobby of the hotel, it seems as if a hot spring were bubbling up from a gold ingot.
■ Dormy Inn Kanazawa courtyard
* gold foil applied to the back of clear acrylic board with silicon coating
*size w55×d55×h45 cm
*designed by n.o.a
■produced by Ubushina, Yudai Tachikawa
Karuta games (card game) of Japan originated in the Kaiawase game (shell game) played among the women of the noble families in the Heian period (794−1192). Later in the Edo period (1603−1867), the rectangular cards of Uta-garuta with tanka poems written on them began to be played, which developed into the present Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (poems of one hundred poets). In this game, the Yomite (reader) reads kaminoku (the first 17 syllables of a poem) in the yomifuda (reading cards) and the players have to find its torifuda (grabbing cards) in which the associated shimonoku (the rest 14 syllables) are written. Kyogi-Karuta (competition karuta) is usually played between the two players but three players take part in the game in some cases. Other kinds of karuta are Iroha-Karuta with a kana letter of 48 Japanese alphabets and a picture are written in torifuda while a proverb connected to the picture is written in yomifuda and Eawase-Karuta for infants to learn the language.
Shogi is a Japanese chess game using a board and 40 pieces. In the formal type of the game called Hon-Shogi, the game is played between two players of Sente (the first player) and Gote (the opponent player). The two players alternate taking turns and the game is won when a king is captured. The pieces are divided into eight kinds, each of which is moved or captured according to the rule defined to each piece. The appeal of Shogi lies in the process of running the king to ground by capturing the opponent pieces and using it as the friendly pieces or promoting the pieces to add them different movement. Other than Hon-Shogi, there are some variants such as Hasami-Shogi (sandwiching shogi), in which the game is won when the agreed number of pieces are captured, or Mawari-Shogi for children, in which players cast four king pieces move according to how the piece fall.
The way to play with Bidama (glass marble balls) differs from one locality to another. In one basic version of the game, players draw a square (or a triangle) on the ground. The leading player puts his marble inside the square. Then the opponent player tries to knock the marble out of the square with his own marble. If it shoots the target marble rightly, he will win it, but in return for this, his marble is in the position to be shot. Another version involves digging several holes in the ground. The players take turns flipping their own marbles to shoot the holes according to the designated route. It is possible to add various optional rules to the play, for example, when a player mistakenly shoots another player’s marble on the way, this will carry some penalty. Or the player who reached the goal first will be given the right to hit his marble against another one and so on.