Lacquerware Living National Treasure Murose Kazumi is recognized for his mastery Poppy seedsA decorative technology in which gold powder is applied via paint.
By creating lacquerware, time will move quickly
“Lacquer art could be called decorative expression of light. The combination of the shiny black paint and the shiny gold is a perfect way to convey radiation.”
Lacquerware, generated by applying SAP from the UrrushinokiOr Japanese paint tree to decorate and protect it has long been an important component in Japanese lifestyle and culture that is used for all types of objects from everyday soup shells to works of art. The technology with which Murose Kazumi creates its pieces Togidashi MakieIn which, as soon as gold powder is sprinkled onto the paint, to form the design, are burned by other layers of paint and then with charcoal to reveal the design below.
Gift from heavenA box of letters with Poppy seeds Lack work and pearl mother, which are exhibited in the seventieth Japan traditional Kōgei Exhibition (2023). (With the kind permission of the Japan Kōgei Association)
Gift from heavenIn 2023, a shiny mirror -like paint surface, under which gold grains in different colors, shapes and textures are overlapped three -dimensional to create a rich decoration.
“I have depicted grapes that matured from the sun and heavily hang on the vine, while squirrels play nearby. My idea was that it would convey the power of sunlight to promote plants and animals, as well as how people are blessed by this strength.”
(© Mori Masatoshi)
Each piece takes an excessive time to create. The first step of the process is to apply linen towels to a wooden basis in order to reinforce it and then add a basic layer of paint. This remains dry and then polished. Then further layers of liquid paint are repeatedly added and polished. This is followed by the decoration process.
For Gift from heavenThe leaf and sunlight design was drawn with paint and then with gold powder by snapping it with the finger of A FunziutsuA bamboo tube that holds the powder. Another layer of paint was then applied at the top and left for hardening, whereupon the surface was burned with charcoal to reveal the designs. The grapes and squirrels themselves were created with use RaceA decorative pearl mother inlay technology. This technique included cutting pearl nut shells in patterns, which were then glued to the painted surface and polished with charcoal to finish.
Funziutsu Bamboo powder tube. (© Mori Masatoshi)
“A year fits quickly if I run through this process onto the wood by applying the basic coating coat and then repeated and repeated. For a piece of the size of Gift from heaven [roughly A4 size and just over 10 centimeters tall]Around a year was also needed for the decoration process. Therefore, it can take three to four years for each of my pieces count in the planning time. Lacquer hardens over time and becomes stronger and more transparent. With this longer time cycle for working with Lacquer, it feels like you are in a different timeline as usual. “
Race Pearl mother inlay. (© Mori Masatoshi)
A father's teaching: Creativity through actions not words
Murose's father was the paint artist Murose Shunji. Part of her house was his father's studio in which the young murosis would play.
“When I was seven or eight years old, I said I wanted a plastic model of a motor boat Warwater. It was a Japanese -style ship, so I didn't look like a motor boat, but I played with it forever and hovered in the bathroom, and after that I was interested in the craft. If I think back now, I think instead of using words, he taught me through actions how to do things with my hands. “
Among the master paint artists who often came to visit would be Rokkaku Daijō (who later became a professor of Urushi art (Japanese paint) at the art of Tokyo University of the Arts) and Masumura Mashiki (referred to as a national treasure Kyusshitsu Japanese painting technology in 1978). Murosis was increasingly pointed out to paint art, and at the age of fourteen he caught his own work and learned the joy of creating.
“I grew up with my father and loved doing things, so I always wanted to be a paint art. But at that time you couldn't live about it. I spoke to my father, but everything he said was:” You cannot support yourself as a paint artist. “My teachers at the high school were also very against it and said:” These old traditions will disappear. “So I took the attitude that” if that is the case, I will see it disappearing. “
When he wrote to the Tokyo University of the Arts, he visited Shunji's teacher Matsuda Gonroku (described as a lively national treasure by Poppy seeds in the field of paint art in 1955) to let him know that he would study there.
“Even now I remember how nervous I was at the time. He spent half the day passionate to me, someone who is young enough to be his grandchild. Since then, Matsuda-Sensei has been the person I strive for.”
However, Matsuda did not turn him on how to do things. Instead, he spoke about the creative way of thinking, in other words: “Philosophy, to do things”.
“One of Matsuda-Senseis was teaching” from people, from things and from nature “.” People refer to predecessors such as masters and older craftsmen;
When it came to making painting strength or rather the techniques, he learned the basics of his father Shunji and then studied more ways from Poppy seeds Expression of his graduate school professor Taguchi Yoshikuni (denotes a living national treasure for Poppy seeds 1989).
“I think techniques are not too taught, but memorize by experience to make mistakes again and again while creating. Errors are actually a capital.”
Tradition is the acceleration of innovations
Although it tried to create every day, it was still not easy to make a living as a paint artist.
“People only really started buying my work from the time when I was about fifty. Up to this point I did not work through my art, the repair of cultural assets and taught paint art during the day, while I continued to work on my own pieces at night. I still thought it was best I loved.”
Murosis learned a lot from his work to maintain cultural assets. He headed a team of eighteen researchers and technicians for the restoration and reproduction of the national treasure Not ume makie, you will do ita cosmetic cosmetic box of plum flowers from the Kamakura period (1185–1333).
“I had previously assumed that the golden background in Poppy seeds Should have an even gold, but I discovered by restoring that Not ume makie, you will do it That the technology in the Kamakura period was to use the textures of the gold grain. This frees my thinking and let me understand that an expression was possible. “
The restoration lasted three years and was completed in 1998. Until then, he was forty -eight. This revelation caused him to experiment with three -dimensional expression by shaving gold lumps in order to deliberately generate powder particles that differ in shape and coarse.
His efforts to produce a new style Colored lightsan octagonal box with Poppy seeds Lack work and pearl mother Inlay, who won the governor of Tokyo's Award at Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition in 2000 when he was fifty.
Colored lightsan octagonal box with Poppy seeds Lackwerk and Race Perlmutter Inlay, exhibited in the most forty-seven Japan traditional Kōgei Exhibition (2000). (With the kind permission of the Japan Kōgei Association)
“The culture of Poppy seeds Existed for more 1,200 years and at all this time the two main colors were. Based on this tradition, for Colored lightsI added color using pearl nut inlay and dried paint powder and continue to apply gold powder layers in different particles to give a better feeling of depth.
“It is often assumed that traditional crafts mean the preservation of the old techniques and aesthetics. While the basic techniques remain the same, the materials and types of expression change. Basically, I think that tradition is the accretion of innovations and therefore this work has a significant importance for me because it leads to a completely new form of expression.”
(© Mori Masatoshi)
Murosis was a lively national treasure for the Poppy seeds In 2008. According to a press release from agency for cultural affairs, he was recognized for “the creation of works based on traditional techniques while adding his own originality and involved a variety of colorful expressions.
Art enriches both spirit and society
Murosis also uses a lot of energy to spread the culture of paint art. In 2007 he took part in an exhibition in the British Museum and gave a lecture and a demonstration that caused him to promote the paint culture from its base in London. He has been working in the Victoria and Albert Museum for more than 20 years.
He also creates the opportunity for children to get in touch with Lacquer by holding workshops for children in Japan. This activity started after the earthquake in East Japan and runs from 2012 to the present day.
“It is a limit for what I can do as an individual. But if the splendor of varnish and craft can be widespread, the paint culture will continue when I went. Therefore it is an important part of my work.”
(© Mori Masatoshi)
Murosis works hard every day to create paint art and pass on his culture. What is the source of this passion?
“I may not have come that far, if not for paint. It is really amazing. At first I want people to touch really real paints. It feels pretty, damp and still silky, and that alone has a calming effect. Art is something that enriches the mind.
(Originally published in Japanese. Interview and text by Sugihara Yuka and Power News. Photos of Mori Masatoshi, unless otherwise stated.)