Traditional craft
Kanazawa Shikki
金沢漆器
Refined lacquerware from Kanazawa, decorated with Kaga maki-e gold pictures that blend court elegance with samurai strength.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 3 March 1980
- Type
- Lacquerware
- Region
- Chubu
- Official name in Japanese
- 金沢漆器
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 金沢市、野々市市、河北郡内灘町
Kaga maki-e
Kanazawa Shikki is best known for Kaga maki-e, pictures in sprinkled gold that are ranked alongside the maki-e of Edo and Kyoto. A signature technique is shishiai togidashi maki-e, where parts of the design are raised and then polished back. Wood and lacquer work are equally skilled, and the pieces still carry the feel of the wealthy Kaga domain. It is made in Kanazawa, Nonoichi and Uchinada in Ishikawa as furnishings, tea ware and flower arranging tools.
Wood, coats, then gold
Bases are made mainly from ginkgo, hinoki and ate wood. After the woodwork and decorative lacquer coats, the piece is decorated with flat hira-makie, raised taka-makie or togidashi-makie, where gold is lacquered over and polished back to the surface.
Invited masters
The Kaga domain put great effort into the arts. Early in the Edo period, a Kaga lord invited Igarashi Doho, a famous artist of Kodaiji maki-e, the style that represents Momoyama culture, to teach. Masters of inro maki-e were also invited from Edo, and together they built the tradition of Kaga maki-e, adding the strength of samurai culture to the elegance of the court.
Good to know
- Kanazawa Shikki suits tea lovers: many pieces are tea ware and flower arranging tools.
- Compare it with nearby Wajima Nuri and Yamanaka Shikki for three very different Ishikawa lacquers.
Questions travellers ask
What is Kaga maki-e?
Kanazawa's style of gold maki-e decoration, built by masters the Kaga domain invited in the Edo period.
Who was Igarashi Doho?
A renowned artist of Kodaiji maki-e whom a Kaga lord invited to teach in the early Edo period.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.