Traditional craft
Niigata Shikki
新潟漆器
Lacquerware from the old port of Niigata, with many styles, including take-nuri, lacquer made to look just like real bamboo.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 17 March 2003
- Type
- Lacquerware
- Region
- Chubu
- Official name in Japanese
- 新潟漆器
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 新潟市、加茂市
Many finishes, one port
Niigata Shikki uses a wide range of finishes: hana-nuri, ishime-nuri with a stone-like texture, isokusa-nuri, nishiki-nuri and take-nuri. Take-nuri is the one to remember. Bamboo nodes are built up in lacquer paste during the base coat, then the bamboo skin and its markings are painted in coloured lacquer, a technique not seen in other areas. It is made in Niigata and Kamo in Niigata as trays, boxes, low tables, vases and tea ware.
Layer after layer
The wood is dried well before it is shaped. Lacquerers then build the piece up layer by layer: first a base coat to make the whole piece strong, then a middle coat, then the top coat, with natural lacquer throughout.
A protected lacquer street
Lacquer techniques came to Niigata from other areas early in the Edo period. In 1638 a district called wan-dana, where only lacquerware could be sold, was set up in what is now Furumachi, and the trade was protected. A document from 1819 names lacquer craftsmen. As a port of call for the Kitamaebune trading ships, Niigata gathered goods and culture from many regions, and its lacquer took in techniques from all over.
Good to know
- Ask to see take-nuri chopsticks; at a glance they look like real bamboo.
- Look out for Nuridon, the craft's cheerful mascot, at Niigata events.
Questions travellers ask
What is take-nuri?
A Niigata technique where lacquer paste and coloured lacquer recreate the nodes and skin of bamboo.
Where is it made?
In Niigata city and Kamo city, Niigata Prefecture.
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.