JAPANESE LAC (KI-URUSHI) 



Doubtless nearly every one has seen and admired the beau- 

 tiful Japanese vases or boxes without realizing that they were 

 finished with the most indestructible varnish known to man. 

 There are at present vases, more than a century old, that l^ave 

 retained their beautiful luster so perfectly that they look as 

 though they had been finished but yesterday. The hardened 

 surface formed by the genuine Japanese lac, is practically un- 

 affected by the usual reagents, which are so detrimental to most 

 varnished surfaces, as, alcohol, ether, alkalies and acids. It is 

 acted upon to some extent by strong sulphuric or nitric acids, 

 and may be dissolved by continued heating in fuming nitric acid. 



Rein 1 states that the Japanese doubtless received their knowl- 

 edge of the lac industry from the Chinese in the early part of the 

 third century ; but that its use did not attain great importance 

 before the middle of the seventh century. Kotoku-Tenno, the 

 36 Mikado (645 to 654 A. D.) had a ceremonial head covering 

 of paper, which was covered with black lacquer. There is a 

 lacquered scarf box in the temple at Nara, which belonged to 

 a priest in the time of Kinnari Tenno (540 to 572 A. D.). 



For centuries its use and production remained a secret. As 

 late as 1873 wc ^ nc ^ tne statement that "The manner of prepar- 

 ing the varnish and the mode of applying it, is likely to remain 

 a secret." 2 In the following year Prof. J. J. Rein made a thor- 



1 J. J. Rein's The Industries of Japan, London, 1889, Lacquer Work, 

 PP- 339-377; Rein, Japan II, Leipzig 1886. This Author has minutely de- 

 scribed the lac industry and it is to his excellent work that I shall fre- 

 quently refer. 



2 Belfour's Cyclopaedia of India. 



