kanshitsu　乾漆

KEY WORD :　art history / sculptures

Also kanshitsuzou 乾漆像, kanshitsu-zukuri 乾漆造. Dry lacquer technique. A technique used to produce Buddhist images brought from China in the late 7c and in Japan throughout the Nara period. In documents from the Nara period kanshitsu was refered to as *soku 即, or the Chinese term *kyoucho 夾紵. There were two types of dry lacquer technique. One was the hollow dry lacquer method *dakkatsu kanshitsu 脱活乾漆, and the other was the wood-core dry lacquer method *mokushin kanshitsu 木心乾漆. The hollow dry lacquer technique was the first to be used in Japan, and was popular during the Hakuhou and Nara periods. A rough core was first modelled in clay and then layers of hemp cloth soaked in lacquer were applied over the surface, each layer being left to dry before the next layer was added. The clay core was then removed, forming a lightweight hollow statue. A wooden framework was often fitted inside the statue to prevent it warping. Surface details were modelled with a thick paste known as *kokuso-urushi 木屎漆: a mixture of lacquer, flour, and wood-powder. In wood-core dry lacquer statues the basic shape of the statue was first carved in wood, and then lacquer was applied over the wood. Layers of hemp cloth were used as for the hollow dry lacquer statue, and surface details were added using kokuso-urushi. The lacquer layer tended to be between 1-3cm thick; as the technique developed during the Nara period, the wooden core was carved to an increasing degree of precision and the lacquer layer was made gradually thinner.

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