Joboji Nuri

Lacquer made to be used

Joboji Nuri has always been everyday lacquer: soup bowls, rice bowls and lipped katakuchi bowls. Most pieces are plain vermilion, black or amber-brown tame-iro, with a subdued gloss. The area is Japan's largest producer of lacquer sap, and the fine materials give a texture you never tire of. It is made in Ninohe, Hachimantai, Morioka and Takizawa in Iwate.

Finished straight from the brush

Bases are turned from horse chestnut, cherry birch or zelkova and hardened with raw lacquer. A smoothing coat follows, then a paste of whetstone powder and lacquer is applied and polished smooth. The final coat is brushed on with no brush marks or dust and left to dry as it is, a finish called hana-nuri.

Bowls for temple monks

The name comes from the Joboji clan, who ruled northern Iwate in medieval times. Local legend says that when the monk Gyoki built Tendai-ji temple in the Nara period, monks sent from the capital brought lacquer skills to make their own bowls. In the Edo period it became an important product of the Nanbu domain, known as Oyama goki.