Urushi-e

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Techniques in Japanese art

title: "Urushi-e" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["japanese-art-terminology", "japanese-lacquerware", "japanese-painting", "ukiyo-e-genres"] description: "Techniques in Japanese art" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urushi-e" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Techniques in Japanese art ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Nishimura,_Shoki_and_Girl.jpg" caption="Shōki]] and Girl'', c. 1720s. Woodblock print with hand-coloring and lacquer (''urushi''). ''[[Hosoban]]''. 13 in. x 5 5/8 in."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Urushie.jpg" caption="publisher= [[Victoria and Albert Museum"] ::

|url= https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O405786/woodblock-print/ |title= Young Lovers by Mount Fuji |work=Asia |access-date= 2007-12-12}}]]

Paintings

In painting, the term refers to the use of colored lacquers, produced by mixing pigments with clear lacquer. The use of colored lacquer for painting goes back to the prehistoric Jōmon period, and became especially popular in the Nara period (8th century), when a great many works were made using red lacquer against a black background. Until the 19th century, however, the use of natural pigments restricted the colors accessible to artists to red, black, yellow, green, and light brown.

Artists

Artist Shibata Zeshin (1807–1891) is known for his innovations in this regard, and is believed by some to be the first to use lacquer not just as a decorative element (in painting boxes, furniture, and pottery) but as a medium for painted scrolls. Zeshin experimented extensively with various substances, which he mixed with lacquer to create a variety of effects, including simulating the appearance of various metals (iron, gold, bronze, copper), and imitating the appearance and texture of Western oil painting.

Other artists who used the technique include:

Torii Kiyonobu I (1664–1729) a member of the Torii ukiyo-e school used urushi-e.
Torii Kiyomasu another member of the Torii school also made five pigment urushi-e.
Another artist Nishimura Shigenaga, used it in brass powder in some of his urushi-e works.
Okumura Masanobu was another who used this technique in the Edo era.

References

(1988-12-01). "Urushi: Proceedings of the Urushi Study Group, June 10–27, 1985, Tokyo". Getty Publications.
"JAANUS / urushi-e 漆絵".
(2016-03-09). "Impressions of Ukiyo-E". Parkstone International.
"Honolulu Museum of Art » A Parody of the Immortal Kinkö".
Earle, Joe. "THE GENIUS OF JAPANESE LACQUER: MASTERWORKS BY SHIBATA ZESHIN".
"The Actor Sanogawa Mangiku I as Sanada, the daughter of the spinner Itoya, with an attendant in the play "Hiragana Yomeiri Izu Nikki," performed at the Nakamura Theater in the eleventh month, 1718".
"The Actor Yamashita Kinsaku I as a peddler of tooth-blackening dye".
"Courtesan Riding a Carp (parody of the Daoist Immortal Kinko [Chinese: Qin Gao])".
"Saigyo Hoshi".

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