The History of Urushi - 1: From Ancient to Modern

The history of urushi utilization in Japan dates back to about 9,000 years ago in the Jomon Period.  Since that time, it has been used as an adhesive and protective material for daily necessities, especially tableware, as well as aristocratic art crafts, buildings, and other industrial purposes.  In order to meet the multiple demands, urushi was planted in areas all over the country from southern Hokkaido to Kyusyu island. 

The production of urushi remarkably expanded in Edo era, seventeenth to eighteenth century, when many daimyos, feudal loads, eagerly promoted its cultivation; it was a profitable cash crop because, not only its tree-sap, but also its seeds could also be sold as material for candles.  In this period, the modern urushi industry, based on division of labor and sectors, was established and each region eagerly developed individualistic techniques for cultivation of urushi or artworks.  The trend lasted until the Meiji Restoration in late nineteenth century, by which hans, their feudal domains were disassembled and Japan started to import urushi from foreign countries.

The History of Urushi - 2: Recent Trend

Along with industrialization, lifestyle of Japanese greatly changed and demand of urushi-ware decreased.  Many sites abandoned production of urushi and it was substituted by cheaper import urushi from foreign countries.  In 2009, only 4 % of urushi used in Japan was supplied by domestic production; the other 96 % of it was imported, mainly from China.  

Figure 1: Urushi Production Volume in Japan, Iwate Prefecture and Joboji from 1984 to 2009

(Data from Urushi Promotion Division of Ninohe City Office, 2010 and Forestry Agency, 2010)

Figure 1 above shows the urushi production volume in Japan, Iwate Prefecture and Joboji from 1984 to 2009.  For the last twenty years, the total production has declined from around five tons to one and a half ton.  Compared to its highest peak of 750 tons recorded in 1877, it has diminished by 99.8 %.  Production volume in Iwate goes along with it, and from the year 2001, all of production in Iwate is made in Joboji.  After 2003, a slight increase can be observed in the line of Japan, but this increase is mainly due to Joboji, going up from 900 kg in 2000 to 1,437 kg in 2009, while production in the rest of the country kept declining.  

Figure 2: Urushi Import Volume in Japan from 1984 to 2009

(Data from Urushi Promotion Division of Ninohe City Office, 2010 and Forestry Agency, 2010)

At the same time, there is also less import each year as described in Figure 2.  Especially from 2009 to 2010, it decreased by almost forty percent, from 70,476 kg to 41,050 kg.  This is also because of less demand of urushi and urushi ware in Japan, which is expected to continue decreasing for the next some years.  

Figure 3: Ratio of Joboji Urushi in Total Production in Japan from 1985 to 2009

(Data from Urushi Promotion Division of Ninohe City Office, 2010 and Forestry Agency, 2010)

Finally, Figure 3 indicates change in percentage of Joboji urushi in total national urushi production; ratio of Joboji urushi covered less than half of total production in 1985, then gradually increased up to nearly eighty percent in the last twenty years.  These data suggest the significance of Joboji in the whole urushi production industry, both national and global.  For this reason, I have visited the town three times in 2011 to see what's going on there.