(4) Nerigaki Togidashi Maki-e

Nerigaki means by painting with Urushi which is kneaded together with gold or silver powders. The powders and the Urushi are needed to knead proportionately so that the author can draw thinly or heavily at his will. After the design is done, Urushi is painted over and burnished to finish up with the work.

Standard Sample: DE-106, Botan-Karakusa (Peony lower pattern design) Drawing with kneaded Urushi with gold powders on all design and finished with a Togidashi process. MSRP $1,600.00

DE-107

Taka Maki-e is a general term for all Maki-e which has raised designs to make it look more dimensional. And Taka-age Urushi used for raising the designs is Roiro-Urushi mixed with E-Urushi by about 50/50. Then, bake the half of this Urushi to be Yaki-Urushi, which is baked Urushi, which won't dry under general temperatures. Add a little glue to this baked Urushi and again knead with lamp soot to make special Urushi, which is hard to dry and hard to let the surface shrink. So this Urushi is used for raising designs in many different ways. After the designs are raised, the process on the raised part will be the same as Hira Maki-e.

Taka Maki-e can have:

(1) Sumiko-age Taka Maki-e

This Taka Maki-e technique uses charcoal powders as material under the raised designs covered by Urushi, and it is completed with the same process of Hira Maki-e. It is done by Sumiko-age on Aoinoue on Kimono, Obi and the Fire. The maples on Obi were made with Urushi-age.

Standard sample: MK-26, Aoinoue (Noh Play from the Tales of Genji). This design uses charcoal powders to raise the design on Kimono, Obi and the Fire. MSRP $9,000.00

MK-26

(2) Urushi-age Taka Maki-e

Urushi-age Taka Maki-e technique uses Urushi applied by layers to raise the designs instead of charcoal powders as the above Sumiko-age technique.

Standard Samples: MK-38, Katawaguruma. (wheels on the water). Urushi-age, raised with Urushi on the wheels. MSRP $10,000.00

MK-38

MK-44, Shakkyo. "Stone Bridge" from a Noh Play. Raised with Urushi on Kanji and the faces. MSRP $8,000.00

MK-44

(3) Kuro (black) Maki-e

Instead of Taka-age Urushi, Roiro Urushi in black is used for raising the designs. Black raised designs on black surface and finished with Roiro Shi-age, same with Roiro-migaki.

Standard Sample: N-145, The Horse. Use black Urushi to raise the design on a black base and finished with Roiro-migaki. MSRP $3,000.00

N-145

(4) Suzu-age Taka Maki-e

Suzu is tin which is baked and used to raise the designs. Its process is the same with the above Sumiko-age technique. Suzu is easy to use for higher raised designs.

Standard sample: MK-18, Chrysanthemum & Butterfly. Using tin powders to raise the design is also called Yuji Maki-e method. This is an easier way to raise the design and widely used. MSRP $6,000.00

MK-18

(5) Sabi-age Taka Maki-e

Sabi is made with crude Urushi mixed with grinding powders and water, widely used for base treatment and various Urushi paintings with colored Sabi, followed by raising the designs on Maki-e. Sabi is easy to use for Taka Maki-e technique.


Standard samples:
MK-19, Hyotan (bottle gourd) & Bee. These big Hyotan were all raised with Sabi, Urushi mixed with grinding powder and water. MSRP $6,000.00

MK-19

DE-108, An old pine tree & a crane. The whole design on this pen uses Taka Maki-e with Sabi-age including the bird, except the Raden on the trunk and the Nashiji-nuri all over. MSRP $3,200.00

DE-108

All these five different materials for raising the designs are in fact, invisible from our eye, as they are all covered under the surface Urushi. I asked our Maki-e shi from Wajima, if they can tell what is inside of the raised part by a naked eye, their answers were that some experts may be able to tell the difference between the tin and silver inside by touching it, or they can guess whether it is Urushi under the raised or Sumi. They said the best and only way is to use an X-ray. So, we have to trust the author who is going to Maki-e for us. They use different materials to raise the designs not because of its cost, but because of its necessity. And very often they have to use different materials on the same place by using silver powder or charcoal powder to raise the part first and then, using Urushi to finish the raise. This complicated usage is needed especially on pens because the base is cylindrical.