THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
FEBRUARY,  1906. 
JAPANESE  LAC— (KI-URUSH1). 
By  A.  B.  Stevens. 
Doubtless  nearly  every  one  has  seen  and  admired  the  beautiful 
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  have  retained  their 
beautiful  luster  so  perfectly  that  they  look  as  though  they  had  been 
finished  but  yesterday.  The  hardened  surface  formed  by  the  genu- 
ine Japanese  Lac  is  practically  unaffected  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  acid,  and  maybe  dissolved  by  continued  heating 
in  fuming  nitric  acid. 
Rein 1  states  that  the  Japanese  doubtless  received  their  knowledge 
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  thirty-sixth 
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  we  find  the  statement  that  "The  manner  of  preparing  the 
varnish  and  the  mode  of  applying  it  is  likely  to  remain  a  secret."2 
1  J.  J.  Rein's  "  The  Industries  of  Japan,"  London,  1886;  Rein,  "Japan  II," 
Leipzig,  1886.  This  author  has  minutely  described  the  lac  industry,  and  it  is 
to  this  excellent  work  that  I  shall  frequently  refer. 
2  Belfour's  Cyclopaedia  of  India. 
(53) 
