LACQUER WORK. 377 



At the last Paris Industrial Exhibition in 1878, one article, a 

 lacquered three-winged screen (biobu), was prominent above all 

 the other Japanese lacquer wares for the richness and elegance 

 of its decorations — an exhibition piece, that even in the presence 

 of the shields of Elkington, the bronzes of Barbedienne, and the 

 beautiful Indian collection of the Prince of Wales, made a great 

 impression on the lovers of art. This master piece, on which, 

 I was told, workmen were employed two full years in Tokio, 

 showed beyond a doubt, that the old lacquer art is still well under- 

 stood, when time and means are richly furnished for carrying it 

 out. A more beautiful ornamentation in raised gold lacquer work 

 is scarcely conceivable than the magnificently executed red and 

 white pseony blossoms in gold and silver, the several chrysanthe- 

 mums and other flowers with their leaves, which adorned this screen. 

 The Prize Commissioners rewarded the exhibitor, Minoda Chojiro, 

 a merchant of Tokio, with the gold medal, and an English amateur 

 paid the sum of 60,000 frcs. for it. 



Whoever has followed the progress of this industry since that 

 time, and has noted its products in those shops in London, Paris, 

 and Berlin, which have made it their specialty to collect and sell 

 the better class of Japanese products of art industry, must indeed 

 have been convinced that the endeavours and progress in this 

 branch have not been limited to the great universal exhibitions, 

 and cannot fail of receiving wider recognition on the part of pur- 

 chasers. 



The lacquer industry of to-day is concentrated principally in 

 and around Tokio, and the greatest export of its wares is by way 

 of Yokohama. Most of the lacquer wares of Shidzuoka and the 

 northern provincial cities, Wakamatsu, Yonezawa, Niigata and 

 Noshiro are sent to this point. Shidzuoka and Niigata furnish 

 among other things great part of the favourite oval bread baskets, 

 made from magnolia wood, with or without the rattan covering. 

 In Niigata not less than 200 families were supported, in 1S74, by 

 the lacquer industry. 



In the valley of the upper Sai-gawa and of the Kiso-gawa, in 

 the province of Shinano, along the Nakasendo, the towns Hirasawa, 

 Nagai, Yabuhara and Fukushima manufacture a large amount of 

 cheap wooden lacquer wares for the home market, chiefly soup 

 bowls and other wooden dishes. Instead of using Kokuso-kau, 

 the joints are painted over with a mixture of wheat flour and 

 Se-shime-urushi. Wakayama and Kioto provide the market of 

 Osaka and Hioga principally. At Nagoya the lacquer decoration is 

 worked mainly upon pottery (porcelain and earthenware), in Kioto 

 on bronze and copper. Nagasaki furnishes tortoise-shell work prin- 

 cipally, and imitations, with some very fine gold lacquer decorations. 

 Cabinets and other articles inlaid with mother-of-pearl are also 

 sent largely from here, and the lacquered Arita vases with the 

 wavy border. 



