People and skills｜Manufacturing processTHE TRADITIONAL OF A YAMANAKA

The raw wood is taken to size by tatekidori (vertical cutting), and the excess is cut off. After the rough finished shape is made using a wheel, the wood is dried for approximately three months to prevent distortion. The wood expands and contracts depending on the drying and humidity conditions, so it is important to cut the wood about 3 mm larger than the finished dimensions. When the wood is almost immobile, finish grinding is carried out on the outside and the inside in that order. Decorative grinding is added here.

The lacquer is soaked into the grain of the dried wood to harden the wood fibres and prevent deformation. The vulnerable edges of the top and base, and the fixtures are reinforced by covering them with glue-lacquer. After drying, overlapping parts of the cloth are removed with a knife and the surface of the wood is sharpened with sandpaper to flatten it.
A paste of urushi lacquer mixed with zelkova powder is applied to the wood with a hinoki spatula and allowed to dry before the surface of the wood is sharpened. The same procedure is then followed with a two-sided base made from a mixture of powder and lacquer, which is then dried and polished, and then with a three-sided base made from a mixture of finer powder and lacquer.
The rusty surface is then mixed with raw lacquer and a thin layer of hinoki spatula is applied to the entire surface, which is then polished with a whetstone or similar tool to make the surface smooth.

After a thin undercoat has been applied and polished, a thin coat of refined lacquer is applied over the entire surface with a brush to flatten the surface. After hardening, the surface is polished using Suruga charcoal or similar to improve the adhesion of the top coat of lacquer.
Yamanaka lacquerware uses a technique known as nuritate, in which the lacquer is applied and finished without polishing. The top coat of lacquer is applied evenly and thinly with a brush, taking care to avoid dust, unevenness of the lacquer and uneven brush strokes, and then placed in an automatically rotating bath rack where it is slowly hardened.

A rough sketch on Mino paper is traced with burnt lacquer and stone yellow, which is then copied onto the surface of the lacquerware. Patterns and characters are drawn in lacquer, and before they harden, metal or coloured powders such as gold or silver are sprinkled on the surface to fix them in place. The lacquer is then hardened and carefully polished.
There are various makie techniques. In hira makie, a picture is drawn in lacquer on a base (lacquered wood), then gold and silver powder is sprinkled on the lacquer and allowed to harden. In "Togidashi makie", after sprinkling the powder, coloured lacquer is applied to the entire surface and polished with charcoal or a whetstone until the makie appears. The famous Yamanaka-nuri technique is 'Taka-makie', which gives a three-dimensional effect.

A metal mass called a mould is shaped and the resin is moulded in the mould. High creativity is required as the design of the mould determines the shape of the product. Working at high temperatures removes impurities, enabling mass production at low cost. The high level of moulding technology supports the growth of modern lacquerware.

Once the base material has been moulded, it is painted in a variety of colours. Advances in technology have allowed for greater freedom of colour and processing closer to wooden textures.
The chemical paint is applied to the bare surface by air spray and then hot air-dried at 100°C for 30-60 minutes. Each piece is carefully painted and finished by a painter.

makie (printing) is added to the painted product to create a design suitable for the intended use. Silk-screen printing is the main method used, but delicate manual work is also possible, such as using gold and silver powder or coloured powder to express colour gradations, or applying makie to give a three-dimensional effect. makie techniques are also used, such as outputting the design in separate plates, printing one plate at a time in multiple colours and sprinkling gold powder on the surface.