きゅう漆 Kyuushitsu Kyushitsu
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Kyushitsu is the general term for urushi application in Japanese. There are two main techniques in kyushitsu: Uwa-niri (over coating) and Shitaji-nuri (under coating). The substrates used for lacquering include wood, bamboo, washi-paper, and leather. Lacquerers apply urushi on the substrate, taking properties of the substrate into consideration. Isao Onishi (1944-), the holder of National Important Intangible Cultural Property “Kyushitsu”, first learned Kamakura Carving and then he became apprenticed to Yusai Akaji in 1974 and started to learn Kyushitsu techniques mainly using magewa (hoop-building) technique. In magewa technique, thin strips of wood are bent to form the desired round shape. Then the hoops are linked together to form a vessel. Onishi does every step himself from raw materials to lacquering. His works have been highly praised and he has been awarded a lot of prizes including Ministry of Education, Science and Culture Prize in the 40th Exhibition of Japanese Traditional Art Crafts. However, Onishi is never arrogant and still spends a long period of time in making his work one by one.
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- Kyushitsu