LACQUER WORK. 373 



Chinese, whose son so altered the method, that he employed varie- 

 gated mixtures for the single layers between the black and red 

 lacquer, and then engraved the ornamentation deeply, or more 

 often cut it diagonally, so that the several colours appeared one 

 after another in parallel bands. 



Such work is no longer in the market in Japan, and is only 

 obtained occasionally from dealers in antiquities. Cheap imita- 

 tions, however, are very frequently seen. According to one process, 

 the ornaments are cut in wood and then the whole article is evenly 

 varnished with a thin layer of lacquer, and after drying, the carved 

 parts are gone over with a sharp knife. In the other, which is still 

 followed to a small extent in Kioto, a brown or dark grey putty is 

 prepared from boiled glue, ochre and Se-shime-urushi, with the 

 addition of wheat flour (Ko-mugi-no-ko), which is rolled out in a 

 thin sheet. This is spread out on a board which has been freshly 

 coated with Se-shime-urushi to secure the adhesion of the putty. 

 The desired ornamentation is pressed into, or engraved in the 

 putty and then left to dry. In this way the Kata, or pattern, is 

 obtained. 



A second sheet of this same dough is now rolled out, laid on 

 and pressed into the hollow form obtained from the first one, so 

 that the ornamentation remains raised when the form is lifted off. 

 Such a sheet of putty with its figures in relief is then applied to 

 the article which is to be decorated, and made fast to it by a layer 

 of Se-shime. The design is afterward re-engraved so that it may 

 be more sharply distinct. When the material has become fully dry, 

 the article is varnished once or more times with liquid red or brown 

 lacquer. Trays, vases, and other vessels of wood, burned clay and 

 porcelain are decorated in this way. The artistic value and the 

 demand for them are however very small. 



Historical Facts Concerning Japanese Lacquer 

 Industry. 



Although the age of this industry can scarcely be known exactly, 

 and the legendary history which dates its beginning centuries 

 before the Christian era deserves little credence, it may be accepted 

 as a fact that it did not exist before the campaign against Corea in 

 the 3rd century A.D. The Japanese maintain that Urushi-no-ki, the 

 lacquer-tree, was ^arlier known in the forests of the country, and that 

 the industry which is founded upon the use of its sap was spon- 

 taneously developed. But all proof of this is wanting, while a 

 variety of facts point to China as its source. For one, Rhus 

 vernicifera has not been found growing wild anywhere in Japan, 

 but has sometimes been confused with Rhus sylvestris. Others 

 show that the methods and utensils used in Japan are precisely the 

 same as those which have been used for centuries in the lacquer in- 

 dustry of China. This much may be certainly derived from several 



