Urushi Lacquerware And Watchmaking; Collaboration That Evolves To The Future
(Conversation between Robert Campbell and Isshu Tamura)

Seiko launched the Presage collection in 2011. As well as continuing Seiko’s proud tradition of more than a century of watchmaking, the watches in the Seiko Presage bring a uniquely Japanese aesthetic to the world.

The Seiko Presage showcases the remarkable craftsmanship and skills of the best of “Made in Japan,” incorporating traditional Japanese artisanal techniques into the dials. Inspired by an ambition to elevate the wristwatch into the realm of culture, and to preserve these traditions for the future, the watches highlight the superb skills of Japan’s artisans, helping to ensure that the skills of watchmaking and traditional crafts, which have remained at the heart of people’s daily lives throughout the changing times, are passed on for ages to come.

One of these is the urushi lacquer dial, which uses a ground-breaking technique that directly joins the metal and lacquer, producing a watch that wonderfully highlights the brilliant colors and elegance of fine lacquerware.

What does it mean to take the techniques nurtured in a craft tradition and apply them to a modern precision watch? To answer this question, and explore the points of commonality between watchmaking and traditional crafts, we visited Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture, famous for its traditional lacquerware. In this discussion, Robert Campbell, an American scholar of Japanese literature with wide experience in traditional crafts, talks to lacquerware artist Isshu Tamura about what makes lacquer so attractive and the importance of ensuring that Japan’s traditional culture is passed on to future generations.

Lacquerware: A Living Artform Born Out of the Japanese Climate and Landscape

―― First of all, thank you both for coming out to the Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art today in the middle of a snowstorm. Robert Campbell, you’ve seen examples of fine lacquerware from across the country over the years. What are your thoughts about Japanese lacquerware and the techniques associated with it?

Robert Campbell：Urushi lacquer is different from most other coatings, which start to deteriorate as soon as they are applied. Urushi actually has preservative qualities that help to prevent corrosion and deterioration. So that’s one remarkable thing. Another aspect that makes natural lacquer attractive is the way that it changes over time.

I have lacquer bowls and trays at home, which I use regularly in my daily life. And they gradually change the more you use them—over the years, the colors seem to have become brighter and the pieces have more gloss now than when I bought them. It feels as though you are nurturing these pieces, almost like living things. In that sense, I think time is one of the important ingredients that go into making a piece of lacquerware.

Isshu Tamura：That’s a wonderful way of looking at it. Natural lacquer is sensitive to high temperatures, so it can’t be put in the dish-washer. But it’s something you can use and cherish over many years, that doesn’t require any special care. In fact, lacquer is made on the assumption that it will be used for a long time, and people often come to feel a genuine sense of affection and affinity for pieces they have lived with for so long.

Campbell：Tamura-san has brought some beautiful pieces decorated with maki-e with him today. As soon as I saw them, I was smitten by the beautiful colors, so unique to lacquerware. The maki-e decoration incorporates numerous colors—white, blue, purple, and red—but when you hold the piece at a slightly different angle, it glints with gold colors like lamé.

Tamura：The white used in maki-e comes from quails’ eggshells. Quails’ eggs have a mottled pattern, so the first step is to remove that carefully. Then you break the shells into tiny pieces, and apply the fragments like a mosaic. Coats of lacquer are painted on top of that, but if you just leave it at that, the lacquer can corrode once the shiny gloss wears off.So you use a hard hake brush made from horse’s tail, and charcoal ash powder to impart a gentle luster to the finish.

―― Urushi lacquer has been an integral part of Japanese people’s lives for thousands of years. It was first used way back in the Jomon Period, as a coating for personal ornaments and utensils. What makes lacquer so attractive?

Campbell：The first thing that come to mind is its versatility and the many applications in which it can be used, as a natural coating agent, pigment, and adhesive. The lacquer tree contains toxins that can cause rashes and inflammations, but in spite of this, lacquer has been used throughout history in all kinds of settings—not just to make bowls and other utensils but also Buddhist sculptures.

Lacquer was also popular for the inrō medicine boxes that are familiar to people nowadays from historical dramas, and for jewelry boxes used to store treasures and important heirlooms. I imagine this must have been connected to the lightweight nature of lacquerware?

Tamura：That’s right. Lacquerware objects made with the kanshitsu technique, in which the core is made with hemp cloth, are extremely light. This makes lacquer an ideal material for crafting items that can be carried even in an emergency like an earthquake, fire, or other disaster. Lacquer also has antiseptic and preservative properties, which protect against bacteria and mold. This would have been a big advantage in the long-term storage of jewels and other precious items that needed to be kept safe over many years.There is a deep-seated tradition in Japan of wanting to safeguard precious things and pass them on to future generations. I think lacquer’s role in supporting that tradition and making it possible through history is one of the things that makes it attractive.

Campbell：Since the earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula on New Year’s Day 2024, I have traveled numerous times to Wajima, which is also famous as the center of Wajima-nuri lacquerware. I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to speak to some of the artisans and other members of the community there. The experience has really brought home to me the extent to which Japan has been vulnerable to natural disasters since ancient times. At the same time, it has a rich culture that has been built on the assumption that natural disasters are part and parcel of life. My experiences since the earthquake have really impressed that truth on me.

For example, if you are a craftsperson making lacquerware, you can make your pieces anywhere, as long as you have the hemp and bamboo for making the frame, and the lacquer itself that will be used as the coating. In the Noto Peninsula, a lot of artisans whose workshops were damaged continued their work by making kanshitsu lacquerware after the earthquake. Talking to them impressed on me that lacquerware is an artform that is truly adaptable to the constantly changing conditions of society.

It's a bit like kintsugi, in which broken pottery is repaired using lacquer and gold. This is another example of how lacquerware is a sustainable, high-dimensional artform, that lends itself to being recycled and revived in this way.

Tamura：I live in Ishikawa Prefecture myself, and my neighborhood also sustained damage in the earthquake. Over the past year, I’ve watched all kinds of work going on to repair and restore things across all aspects of life. Seeing the process has made me realize that this has been repeated over and again for centuries. Not just in the Hokuriku region where we are now, but across the whole country.Lacquerware is an artform that has survived for so long by coming through this repeated cycle of destruction and rebirth.

How Traditional Crafts Express Distinctively Japanese Values

―― Tamura-san, you’ve followed your path as an artisan in lacquerware for more than 50 years, and continue to make pieces today. When you were approached to help with the Seiko Presage, I understand you were quite surprised by the idea of incorporating lacquerware into a watch.

Tamura：At first, I didn’t know such a thing was even possible! But I also thought it was a wonderful idea. Once it came to making the product, though, I really struggled with some parts, since it was necessary to be accurate down to units of one percent of a millimeter.

Fundamentally, the two crafts are quite different. In making a mechanical watch, deviations and errors need to be checked in units smaller than micrometers. In lacquerware, each piece is unique, and yuragi (fluctuation) is considered an essential part of what gives its character and depth. In creating the watch, deliberately incorporating some of the distinctive yuragi character of lacquerware was an important goal of the design. Even so, it was a challenge to strike the right balance and create a product that didn’t interfere with the precision and functionality of the watch.

Campbell：I know that teams of artisans are involved in working on the watches in the Seiko Presage, and that making them is a painstaking process. You have to apply the lacquer, polish it, then apply another coat, and repeat the process over and over again. I think these watches really do represent a remarkable achievement that is made possible by the techniques and hard work of highly skilled craftsmen. On this watch, the lacquer is applied directly to a metal dial. I don’t think I’ve heard of applying a lacquer finish onto metal before.

Tamura：The nature of metals means that lacquer doesn’t permeate well into a metal surface, so if you leave it to dry naturally, the lacquer will be prone to peeling. Having said that, applying lacquer on metal is not unheard of. In fact, it has been used for centuries on Kabuto (Samurai helmet) and tea kettles to prevent rust.

When working with metal, we use a technique called yakitsuke, in which lacquer is hardened at high temperatures. You filter the sap from the lacquer tree to get pure ki-urushi, and apply that to the metal. You subject the lacquer to high-temperature heat treatment, then sand it with polishing charcoal. You add a coat of black lacquer, and polish again. This process is repeated. For the watch, we repeated the process of applying a bottom coat and polishing about three times to get the dial to the right thickness.

Campbell：I see. It’s no doubt thanks to all that painstaking hard work that the complex colors change so subtly depending on the angle of the light. It’s really captivating. I have done research on traditional Japanese colors and the names for them, and for me, one of the characteristics of colors in this country is that they are not limited to bright hues, but include darker, subtler shades with notes of astringency. You may think I’m reading too much into it—but it sometimes seems to me that part of the background to these complex hues and the culture that produced them has to do with the Japanese spiritual sense.

Campbell：For example, in Japanese there is the term kuraku, which expresses a value system according to which it is normal for human life to contain suffering as well as pleasure. Happiness and unhappiness have traditionally been regarded as two things that are intimately linked and inseparable.

By contrast, I think the English-speaking countries don’t have a word that refers to both these concepts at once, so that we tend to speak of “suffering and pleasure” or “suffering or pleasure.” This is an interesting difference, and I sometimes feel it can be seen in the differences between colors in Japanese and Western art.

Tamura：That’s an interesting insight.

It’s like snow. In this part of the country, the heavy winter snowfall brings tremendous damage and hardships to people. We all get sick and tired of shoveling the snow every winter. Yet we cannot help feeling grateful for winter snow, knowing that it is what brings the rich fruitful spring that follows. I think you’re right—the concept of pain and pleasure, suffering and pleasure as being intimately linked is deeply rooted in the Japanese value system, and probably also makes its impact felt in the traditional arts and crafts.

Ensuring That Traditional Lacquerware Survives into the Future

―― Urushi lacquerware is an art that has held a cherished position at the heart of people’s lives for centuries. What do you think is needed to ensure that this culture is passed on to future generations?

Tamura：I think the answer is not surprising, since it is a problem that confronts many traditional arts and crafts in Japan: the increasing age of the people engaged in these arts, and the shortage of people in the next generation willing or able to take over.

On top of that, technology is advancing at remarkable speed in recent years. I think before we start to think about whether some of this can be applied to lacquerware, first it’s important to study these examples of cutting-edge technology. Personally,I’ve found that learning about subjects outside my own field, such as about 3D printers and AI, inspires me to take on the challenge of trying new things.

Breathing fresh air into traditional arts and crafts, I think, can widen the scope and horizons of traditions and make them more relevant. The idea of incorporating lacquerware into a high-precision watch was a good example, and one that will surely help to make more people interested in traditional lacquerware.

Campbell：Sometimes people can become protective of tradition and try to shut themselves off from outside influences. Rather than becoming exclusionary in this way, I think skillfully incorporating new ideas and different cultures, and incorporating them into the tradition, can bring new polish and refinement to an artform. At the same time, whenever you try to make something new, walls and barriers are always sure to appear. I imagine that overcoming this must be difficult for craftspeople.

Tamura：That’s true, but my take on it is that Japanese culture developed by incorporating elements of cultures from the continent. And in that sense, it’s only natural that we will need to absorb different elements in the years to come as well. Additionally, collaborating with people from another field can be a lot of fun—as it was working with the people from Seiko to make this watch.

Campbell：That’s a wonderful way of thinking about it. And I think that fits in with the values of kuraku I mentioned a little earlier. Even something that might seem to be difficult at first glance can bring positive results you might never have expected. I think people like you are a shining example. As well as continuing to protect the traditional arts, you are not afraid to take on new challenges and show the potential for new forms that can be created with the latest technology. I’m sure this will inspire the next generation with a sense of innovative possibilities for the future.

I hope this new installment in the Seiko Presage will reach as many people as possible, and that it will help to widen the possibilities for traditional craft arts. The watch allows users to carry and enjoy the natural and complex colors of lacquer wherever they are. I can imagine sitting on the shinkansen, for example, watching the scenery outside reflected in the dial, and enjoying the changing expressions of the lacquer.

Reflecting on the Discussion

This conversation highlighted the deep resonances between the characteristics of lacquerware, which develops a unique texture and character the more it is used over time, and a fine wristwatch, which is about the enjoyment of time.

Rather than merely owning an object, there is a special kind of affection that comes from appreciating the beauty of the materials using a piece over many years. These feelings, and the desire to pass on the history and ideas contained in a piece, are common both to traditional craftsmanship and Seiko’s proud tradition of watchmaking. Seiko will continue to work to transform the craft and culture of watchmaking into a timeless art that lives on across the generations.

Writer: Sayaka Fujima
Photos: Naohiro Kobayashi
Editing: Huuuu inc.
Cooperation:21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.