from the Jomon period and the Ancient Burial Mound period have been recovered. Red and black lacquer was already in use, although lacquer was probably used mainly at this time as a preservative for wood and leather articles rather than for ornamental purposes. Mention is made in the old records of a clan of lacquer workers called nuribe or urushibe as well as the establishment of an Imperial Lacquer Department in the period of Emperor Koan (392-291 b.c.). Decorative figures and ornamentation were already being done at this time. A book written in A.D. 380 mentions red and gold lacquer and a work appearing eight years later mentions gold lacquer as well as powdered gold lacquer, or nashiji.
Asuka (Suiko) Period (552-645)
With the introduction of Buddhism into Japan about 552, lacquer art received a substantial impetus. Black, red, yellow, and green lacquers were used, and the ornamental designs revealed the influence of the Chinese Six Dynasties and Han dynasty periods. Lacquer art was employed mainly for the decoration of important buildings, Buddhist images, and temples and was used on priests' robes. Also Japanese envoys to China wore lacquered leather armor. In 607 Prince Shotoku sent a mission to China to import Chinese culture, including all of the handicrafts. Knowledge of these handicrafts was to be developed in the following Nara period as applied to Buddhist art.
Nara Period (645-794)
Emperor Kotoku, whose reign began in 645, took an interest in lacquer art and established a special department employing the best artisans. Inferior lacquer was officially banned. There is a record of an order from Emperor Temmu (673-86) for red lacquer cabinets. Mention is made of the appointment of twenty government lacquerers under the reign of Emperor Mommu (697-707) who were ordered to study lacquer works and to sign their names to their articles. In 701 a legal code was set forth which included the establishment of an office of the Guild of Lacquer Workers (Nuribe no Tsukasa), which became part of the Ministry of the Imperial Household. It also ordered every landowner to plant lacquer trees in accordance with the area of his land and accepted lacquer in lieu of taxes. At this time princes and chief government officials were given crests to be painted in lacquer on a wooden tablet indicating their rank and office.
With the free exchange between Chinese and Japanese artisans in this period, many new lacquer techniques were adopted, showing the influence of the T'ang dynasty. Among these techniques were mother-of-pearl (raden), oil color (yushoku), sheet design (hyomon), gold-and-silver picture (kingin-e), powdered gold (makkinru), and the beginnings of makie techniques, including chiri-makie. These methods were used separately or in combination and were applied to wood imported from China. During the Nara period dry lacquer (kanshitsu) and lacquered-hide techniques were copied from the Chinese. In the former the wooden base was covered with layers of lacquered hemp cloth and, when dried, the wooden frame was removed. These methods were used not only for small objects, such as boxes, but also for large Buddhist figures. While these techniques were subsequently abandoned, the use of cloth and hide as a basis for lacquer is seen in early inro. Here the bodies were made of ox leather or even of thin dog or cat skin further stiffened with paper or cloth. Occasionally the rims alone were made of leather, the bodies being of thin wood.
The greatest demand for lacquer was for use in the temples, on the images and even on the beams and walls. However, lacquer was also beginning to be used on furniture, boxes (including sutra boxes), musical instruments, and sword scabbards. The motifs were influenced by the Chinese and were essentially of symmetrical formal scroll and arabesque designs interspersed with conventionalized flowers, leaves, and birds. The objects were heavily decorated, with minimal free background space. By the time of Emperor Shomu (724—48) lacquer had reached a high level of perfection. In 756 among the presents given to the Todai-ji temple by the empress Koken were some musical instruments, a go board, and mirrors, all gold-lacquered and encrusted with mother-of-pearl.
Heian Period (794-1185)
Very little is known about early Heian lacquer ware since few specimens remain from this period. In general, the later Heian period is noted for the patronage of the arts by the new Buddhist sects and by the emperor and the nobility. With the temporary loss of contact with China in 894, Japanese artists started to develop their own techniques and designs and to decorate utilitarian articles in addition to religious ones. In the early 9th century the Lacquer Department was incorporated into the future Public Works Department. In the 10th century lacquer ware was apparently no longer restricted to the official governmental lacquerers, since lacquer articles and lacquer juices from some of the provinces (Mino, Kozuke, and Echizen) were received by the government in lieu of taxes. In the late Heian period (Fujiwara, 898-1185) the nobility indulged in luxurious living, causing an increased demand for such lacquered articles as screens, folding screens, and other furniture to adorn their homes. Temples continued to be lavishly decorated and even had their beams and ceilings decorated with makie lacquer. In 905 Emperor Daigo issued strict regulations for the official supervision of the methods of making lacquer. It was also ordered that official lacquer artists would not be permitted to change their profession and were to train students to succeed them. In 947 a law was passed requiring all chief court officers to carry a sword with the sheath encrusted with mother-of-pearl, and in 987 all court ladies decorated the margins of their robes with mother-of-pearl, marking the beginning of such decorations on costumes. The emperor Kazan (reigned 984-86) was an amateur lacquerer and encouraged the fine arts. The priest-artist Chonen sent his disciple Ka-in to the emperor of China in 988 to present gifts of his lacquer work. Similarly in 1073 lacquered objects were sent to the royal house in Korea.
In 1087 the temple Chuson-ji was built in Mutsu Province and was decorated with nashiji and encrustations of mother-of-pearl. During the civil strife between the Taira and the Minamoto in the 11th century the art of lacquering fell into complete decadence, the priests remaining as the chief lacquer artists working around Kyoto. They introduced the technique of ashide-e, or calligraphy, dispersed within the pictorial design (Fig. 41). In 1129, on the 50th birthday of the emperor Horikawa, two famous lacquer artists Norisue and Kiyohara no Sadayasu were honored by being invited to the imperial banquet. In 1142 the entire furniture of the palace of the emperor Konoe was done in nashiji with rich encrustations of gold, mother-of-pearl, and stones of five colors. In 1169 the kuruma, or carriages of nobles, were decorated with hyomon lacquer. In general, lacquer was now used for many types of smaller and larger utilitarian objects, such as ink-stone boxes, fan boxes, cosmetic kits, comb boxes, desks, sword sheaths, clothes boxes, musical instruments, saddles, lanterns, food and drinking vessels, religious scroll boxes, etc. Many of these objects were exported to China and Korea, but in general the exportation of lacquer ware was prohibited up until the Meiji Restoration (1868), when Japan emerged from isolation to enter the modern world.
Technically makie was becoming increasingly finer as was sheet design and mother-of-pearl, while the older Chinese method of oil color was discarded. Other techniques now used were togidashi makie, makkinru, hiramakie, and heijin makie ("even dust"). The introduction of aokin-fun (gold-silver powder) and maki-bokashi (graduated sprinkling) improved the shading techniques. The ikakeji method (heavier dusting than heijin) developed, and the Somada style was mentioned during this time in the Genji Monogatari. Colored glass inlay was even done, although rarely. Boxes were edged (okiguchi) with lead, pewter, and silver, as ordered by Emperor Kazan in 986. Nashiji was used as early as A.D. 905.
Artistically lacquer design followed the general art trends of the time. They expressed the delicate, simple, graceful artistic taste of the nobility along with the beginnings of a more Japanese type of design copied from the newly established Yamato-e school of painting. Nature was beginning to be portrayed more realistically and pictorially, and the overall design was balanced simply and more artistically over the surface of the object. This contrasted with the previously portrayed highly conventionalized patterns of scrollwork and vegetation, densely and evenly distributed over the surface purely in the form of decorative patterns and arabesques. Nature, however, was still represented symbolically—a characteristic that permeates Far Eastern art through tradition, mythology, folklore, religion, and teachings of the laws of Oriental painting. Similarly, the portrayal of human and animal figures became Japanized and changed from that which produced the
