Working from his home studio in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, Onihira Keiji is keeping centuries-old maki-e decorative traditions alive, one celestial vessel at a time.

The ancient craft of urushi, or Japanese lacquerware, is one of Asia’s oldest artistic traditions. Evidence for the use of lacquer – a tree sap used to coat and decorate objects like boxes, bowls and ...

The traditions of Japanese lacquerware are said to stretch back millennia, and it’s widely recognized as one of the country’s representative art forms. By comparison, the Pokémon franchise has a much ...

Using resin sourced from grasses, trees and other non-edible plants, Japanese technology giant NEC Corp. has developed a bioplastic that features the famous "urushi black" hue of the country's ...

Lacquer is usually for precious, pricey stuff. Think handcrafted bowls and serving trays, religious artefacts in museum collections, and the facades of old shrines, temples and other architectural ...

While ceramic dishes and metal cutlery are standard fare, there’s something very satisfying about having a bowl that will grow and change as you do. While there are scores of different traditional ...

"Originally published in Japanese under the title Urushi no hanashi by Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, in 1964 and newly republished as an Iwanami Bunko in 2001. The present translation is based on the ...