HASHIMOTO SHITSUGEI is creating a new future for lacquerware with "maki-e."Our company has produced lacquerware in Wakayama Prefecture, one of Japan's three major lacquerware production centers, for many years.Our company, founded towards the end of the Edo Period (around 1853), has a history spanning more than 160 years.Lacquerware, also known as "japan" in English, is representative of Japanese culture. The manufacturing process for lacquerware can be broadly split into the 4 phases of unpainted wood, foundation, coating, and embellishment, and there are over 70 different processes -- it is said that it takes over 10 years to master the techniques of lacquering.Taking place during the final "embellishment" stage, when decorations are added to the lacquerware piece, the technique known as "maki-e" is specific to Japan, with origins predating the 16th century and a tradition that has been perfected over the past 400 years.Maki-e is a technique whereby each individual piece of lacquerware is decorated with pictures or patterns created by hand by sprinkling gold or silver powder; because maki-e is a manual procedure of sprinkling metal powder, each individual craftsman and each individual lacquerware piece has its own particular flavor. The word maki-e is derived from the Japanese words "maku," to sprinkle or scatter (referring to the sprinkling of the metal powder), and "e," or picture.Because the technique uses gold or silver powder, lacquerware decorated with maki-e does not fade over time, and the earliest maki-e lacquerware can still be viewed in museums in Japan. For example, there is the national treasure "Writing Box with Eight Bridges" by Korin Ogata in the Tokyo National Museum.At Hashimoto Shitsugei, we continue to carry past traditions into the present, giving birth to new maki-e lacquerware.Please take this opportunity to view the traditional art of Japanese maki-e lacquerware.