NAKAYA Ka -Cho-Fu-Getsu series "Maki"

NAKAYA Ka -Cho-Fu-Getsu series
"Maki"

The background of "Maki"

"Maki" is the general name for cedar and cypress in Japanese. Cypress keeps its green leaves through out the year even if it snows, and in spring young leaves comes out very energetic. As this matches to Japanese virtue to endure the tough time patiently and put out the force when it comes to the point, this motive is loved by Japanese people from the ancient times.

Technique

"Ji-maki" (undercoating) is done with gold powder and seashell powder, and "Maki" (Japanese cypress) is painted with gold powder and colored urushi lacquer, emphasizing the movement. Gold powder base, seashell powder base, "Tsuke-gaki" and "Urushie" (paint the figure with colored urushi lacquer) are used.

Process description

1: Togi-tate (smoothen)
Smoothen the urushi lacquer surface. If the surface is bumpy Togi-dashi (polishing) cannot be finished smoothly. Flat part is easy to do, however, it is very difficult when it comes to the round surface.
2: Ji-nuri (base painting)
Apply urushi lacquer evenly on the total surface.
3: Kona-maki (powdering)
Sprinkle gold powder and seashell powder.
4: Kona-gatame (fix powder)
After the powder has stiffened, apply urushi lacquer thin on the total surface and fix the powder and seashell together.
5: Nuri-komi (apply urushi lacquer)
Apply urushi lacquer on whole surface. (As the sizes of gold power and seashell powder are different the surface can easily be uneven. So this and the next step (Togi=grinding) is the most sensitive part of the process to make it perfectly smooth)
6: Togi (grind)
Gold powder is to be ground to half of its thickness. As seashell powder is bigger than gold powder they come out first, so they must be ground until the gold powder is half ground. In such case, i.e. the sizes of the meterials differ, grinding process is very difficult and in addition, as the surface of barrel is curved this process is even more difficult.
7: Tsuke-gakiEUrushi-e (Urushi painting)
To the part where gold powder is to be sprinkled, picture is painted with thick urushi lacquer and gold powder is sprinkled. After hardening, colored urushi lacquer is applied and gold powder is ground out. After that painting is done and gold powder is sprinkled again and fixed. Urushi painting part is done with black urushi, white urushi and blue urushi. If urushi is applied too thick at the painting, the time difference of hardening occurs between the surface and attached part, which leads to half-dry. On the other hand, if urushi is applied too thin three-dimensional feeling cannot be expressed. Therefore the thickness of urushi is the major point at urushi painting. These two techniques are repeated for finishing.
8: Ro-iro
Suri-urushi is performed on the whole surface and after stiffening, it is polished with palm and finger cushion. This is repeated for 3 times. Suri-urushi is a process that apply raw urushi lacquer and wipe out immediately after the finishing of uwanuri. This is neccessary because in the process of uwanuri the surface is polished with fine sand paper which then result in making very small scratches on the surface, and luster is gone at this point. To fill these small scratches and make the surface glossy again, put urushi lacquer thin and wipe it immediately. However, the urushi must be wiped completely to avoid the surface become blackish.

@Closer look at the " Mei " (autograph)

After the autograph "Taiga" there is serial number "One" with Chinese character.

Nashi-ji is applied inside the cap.

- Nashi-ji -
Nashi-ji is a type of Ji-maki (undercoating) where the Nashi-ji powder is used. Nashi-ji powder is very thin and micro powder made by pressing Hirame powder (plain powder). This powder is sprinkled on the lacquered base and after drying Nashi-ji, urushi lacquer (pure and clear urushi lacquer) is applied and ground to the point where the powder does not appear. The way powder can be seen through the clear urushi lacquer is similar to skin of Nashi fruits (Japanese pear) this technique is called Nashi-ji. The appearance with Nashi-ji undercoating is not glossy but mat.

Price US $ 3,750 (JPY 450,000)

You can see higher resolution pictures of this artwork at this corner.

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