First, let me briefly introduce what urushi is. Urushi is refined tree sap used for traditional art and crafts in Japan. It functions as adhesive, protective and decorative coating on different materials: wood, paper, metal, etc.
The process of creating urushi art/crafts can be mainly divided into three phases:
1. Collection of urushi (urushikaki):
urushi is collected, literally "drop by drop", from tree called urushinoki.
2. Purification and refinement (seisei):
3. Artwork (nuri, kashoku):
urushi is used for decoration of plates, furnitures, etc. (click here for some images)
Millions of other works are included in each step; for example, they need to grow urushi trees for about 15 years before collecting tree sap. It is impossible to mention everything here, so I'd like to explain them in detail in the following some posts.
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