DESIGN

Kokontozai: KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts — Wakasa Lacquered Ohashi

『カーサブルータス』2024年3月号より

March 9, 2024 | Design | KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts | photo_Keisuke Fukamizu hair & make-up_Masako Osuga editor_Masae Wako　translation_ Mika Yoshida & David G. Imber

Searching all of Japan for handcrafted items that express its heart and soul, our proprietor, KASHIYUKA, presents things that bring a bit of luxury to everyday life. This time she finds herself in the city of Obama, in Fukui prefecture. At a studio facing Wakasa Bay, the ohashi she encounters there are produced through seemingly endless labor and refinement.

The dining implements we call “chopsticks” are used throughout Asia, and in Japan are known as ohashi. The town of Obama in Fukui prefecture has become known as the "capital of ohashi", as it is said to produce 80% of all those made in Japan. We’re at Kabuku Shikkiten where they make and sell Wakasa lacquered items, continuing a traditional handcraft that has been in practice for some 400 years. "All of that careful, time-consuming work is done in this tiny area,” says KASHIYUKA.

The urushi style known as hōseki-nuri (jewel-lacquered) is notable for its glittering ornamentation and stately appearance. This traditional crafting style is known as Wakasa-nuri in the city of Obama, Fukui prefecture, and is made distinctive by its application of seashell, eggshell, and pine needles to create patterns. It’s said to have first come about in the early Edo period [1603-1868], when members of the Obama clan, which was based in the region surrounding Wakasa Bay, began crafting ohashi with an undersea motif. It later became a side vocation of the area’s samurai, thereby giving it luxury appeal. But because the process makes the sticks more impervious to water and heat they soon acquired everyday popularity.

Purchase No. 70【Wakasa Lacquered Ohashi】Lacquered “chopsticks”, jewel-like in appearance, from the “capital of ohashi”.

Representing the craft of Wakasa-nuri today is fourth-generation artisan Mr. Hiroyoshi Kabuku.

“With Wakasa-nuri there’s no division of labor. A single artisan performs as many as 20 different steps,” he says.

Lacquer is first applied to the wood base, and then the shells and other elements are applied, topped by multiple layers of urushi lacquer. When dried, the surfaces are rubbed with stone and charcoal, drawing out the underlaying shell patterns. Additional lacquer is applied and the process is repeated, again and again. The labor seems endless.