choushitsu　彫漆

KEY WORD :　art history / crafts

Carved lacquer. A generic term used for many carved lacquer techniques where layers of lacquer are applied to a thickness of three to seven millimeters, and a design is engraved on the surface. There are spiral patterns *guri 屈輪, carved cinnabar lacquer tsuishu 堆朱, and carved black lacquer tsuikoku 堆黒. Carving lacquer became popular in China during the Sung dynasty; after Sung lacquer was imported to Japan in the Muromachi period the Japanese made imitations from the late 15c. In order to achieve a carvable thickness, 100 to 300 coats of lacquer were applied to the wood and lacquer base. Each layer was allowed to harden for one day and lightly polished. These difficult techniques became the special preserve of a family whose members each took the name Tsuishu Youzei 堆朱楊成. Tsuishu (layered red) means carved lacquer, usually red, and Youzei conflates the names Youmo 楊茂 (Ch; Yang Mao) and Chousei　張成 (Ch; Chang Cheng) two famous Chinese lacquer carvers. The family continued over 20 generations from the 15c to the 20c, working for the Ashikaga 足利 and then Tokugawa 徳川 shoguns. In the late 18c the Nomura 野村 family shared the official position of shogunal lacquer artists. Chouhitsu is divided by color into tsuishu, tsuikoku, tsuiou 堆黄 (yellow) and kouka ryokuyou 紅花緑葉 (red flowers and green leaves). In tsuishu, literally, piled cinnabar, layers of red lacquer are carved in elaborate designs. Developed in China during the Song and Yuan dynasties, objects made by these techniques were very popular in Japan with tea adepts. The Muromachi period *KUNDAIKAN SOUCHOUKI 君台観左右帳記 divides tsuishu into six groups by patterns or layers of lacquer. Since the Edo period, any red surfaced lacquer is called tsuishu. In kouka ryokuyou flower patterns are carved into the layers of red lacquer, and leaf patterns into the green layers. Tsuikoku creates a design by carving into black lacquer built up out of many thin layers. Popular in the Yuan and Ming dynasties, it was imported in the Kamakura through Muromachi periods, and used primarily at temples. It was later made in Japan. Kamakurabori 鎌倉彫, wood carved and then thinly coated with lacquer *urushi 漆, is made in Kamakura. Reportedly a sculptor of Buddhist images made copies of Chinese choushitsu, using such popular Song and Yuan patterns patterns as peony, plum, Chinese lions and clouds. When demand for Buddhist images declined in the Meiji period, kamakurabori was used for household goods.

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