1888.1 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 173 



THE PREPARATION OF JAPANESE LACQUER AND THE MANU- 

 FACTURE OF WAKASA LACQUER WARE.* 



BY ROMYN HITCHCOCK. 



Japanese lacquer is the product of a tree, the Rhus vernicifera D. C. 

 which grows throughout the inaiu island of Japan. It attains a large 

 size, tbe trunks sometimes measuring a meter in diameter. It is said 

 the tree will live for forty years, but only comparatively young trees are 

 valued for the production of lacquer. Having yielded for several years 

 they are cut down, the lacquer extracted from the branches, and young 

 trees take their places. 



The principal section of the lacquer industry is between the parallels 

 of 37° and 39°, beginning about one hundred miles north of Tokio. The 

 best lacquer, however, comes from much farther south, from Yoshino, 

 in Yamato. 



The lacquer exudes from horizontal cuts in the bark, in the form of 

 a rather viscid emulsion, and inay be collected from April to the end of 

 October. In the spring it is more watery than in the later months. 

 However, the sap never flows so freely that it can be collected in ves- 

 sels, as has been stated by writers. It exudes slowly and is collected by 

 means of a pointed spoon like instrument and transferred to a wooden 

 receptacle or tube of bamboo. Several cuts (6-10) are made in each 

 tree, the last as high as a man can reach. Having thus prepared a dozen 

 or more trees in rapid succession, the collector begins to collect the juice 

 from the cuts in regular order, beginning with the one first cut. 



Having finished the collecting he takes other groups of trees, and 

 after about four days returns to the first, where, after removing the ac- 

 cumulated yield, he cuts again into the same trees, and repeats the same 

 role fifteen or twenty times. Thus the work may go on for eighty to a 

 hundred days. The utmost yield of a single tree is about 40-50 c. c. 

 of raw lacquer. 



As the sap first exudes it is a grayish-white thick or viscous fluid, 

 which quickly turns yellow, and afterwards black where it is in contact 

 with the air. 



The sap thus collected is ki-urushi, urushi being the general name for 

 lacquer. An inferior kind is obtained from the branches when the trees 

 are cut down. The branches are soaked in water for several months, 

 then taken up and slightly warmed, when a small quantity of sap ex- 

 udes. This is seshime urushi. 



The lacquer is strained through cotton cloth to free it from bits of 

 wood and dirt, first being thoroughly stirred to break up lumps and 

 make a uniform mixture. 



* Read before tbe Chemical Society of Washington, April 11, 1*89. 



