Shishiai Togidashi Maki-e

Hira Maki-e is easy, simple and somewhat monotonous. Togidashi Maki-e covers the entire space, and it is colorful but flat. Taka Maki-e has raised designs and is colorful, but still makes you feel something is missing. So, they finally came out with everything by using all Maki-e methods into one piece, combining Togidashi Maki-e and Taka Maki-e to be Shishiai Togidashi Maki-e. Different techniques here and there have to be taken care of one at a time or a few at the same time, while the timing has to be controlled perfectly by expecting when the Urushi will dry or otherwise the work won't be finished as planned.

This difficult technique can be most effective when the designs need to be dimensional, perspective, or to produce a gradational effect. For example, mountains in the distance need Taka Maki-e, while the sky needs the non-dimensional effect of the Togidashi Maki-e method. Trees in the foreground may need the Taka Maki-e method, and a sea or a creek may need a Togidashi Maki-e method, etc. The difficulty lies in burnishing flat and raised parts of the design at the same time. Besides these Maki-e techniques, other non-Maki-e techniques are also used on the Maki-e pieces such as Kirigane (rectangular shape gold flakes) or Marugane (round gold flakes), Hyomon (metal pieces cut to design and pasted on the Urushi surface), and Raden.

On those techniques Maki-e can only use two or more different techniques at the same time on the same piece. Hira Maki-e with Togidashi techniques or Togidashi with just bit of Taka Maki-e here and there, and that all depends on its necessity for the designs as you see all the above samples which have co-used more than two different techniques on the same piece.

Standard samples:
DE-122, Horaisan (Mt. Horai). This beautiful piece uses Urushi to raise the design on the rock and burnish it, a Shishiai technique. Other techniques included here are Tsukegaki (very thin lines drawn with sticky Urushi and only gold powder sprinkled on it for a very thin line design) The whole piece is finished with repeated burnishing. MSRP $2,000.00

DE-122

MK-20, Chikubushima (an island on Biwa Lake, from a Noh Play). Gold raised by Yuji Method. Shishiai Togidashi method on the gold tassel. MSRP $6,000.00

MK-20

MK-1, "War Drum Beating". This design is the best example of Shishiai Togidashi Maki-e in our collection. The four drummers, the demon (with naked bust), the angry old man (at the drum), the ghost with weeping eyes (in white dress) and Daruma (Dharma) at the flame are all done by Shishiai Togidashi Maki-e. MSRP $18,000.00

MK-1

The Value of Maki-e

The cost of Maki-e can roughly be measured by the volume of work. More Shishiai techniques will cost you more and simpler Hira Maki-e can be much less. But this doesn't mean that more Shishiai techniques will be better Maki-e than simpler Hira Maki-e. The beauty of Maki-e does not depend on its easy techniques or difficult ones. It does depend on the author's designs, skills and Zen like concentration. Any Hira Maki-e or Togidashi Maki-e can have beautiful designs and masterpieces. And a masterpiece does not necessarily mean also a masterpiece to others. Our judgment could be nurtured by reading and seeing more
Maki-e and we will be able to judge by ourselves the quality, the beauty, and whether the prices are reasonable. It is probably easier than we think. And I believe that the value of Maki-e should be decided by the buyer or the viewer yourself.

None of our Maki-e artists is a Pablo Picasso or a Vladimir Horowitz of Maki-e, but they are very talented and diligent artists. Interestingly, they like to be called "artisan" or "craftsmen" more than artists. They are all very humble, honest and friendly. The pond of Maki-e artists in Yamanaka or Wajima is dwindling now. No more than 50 in both areas remain these days, and the numbers are decreasing. The main reason is that Maki-e, which requires talent and hard work simply does not attract young people in Japan anymore. There is no Mozart in the Maki-e world that can finish a Maki-e overnight. It requires time to paint, time to dry and again paint and dry and it also depends on the weather. So, no matter how good he is on Maki-e, it still needs two to six months or more for one Maki-e work as small as a Netsuke or as big as a screen. Surely there are some very expensive Maki-e artists in Japan. Because of his high position in the community, some medium size Maki-e pieces I saw would cost hundreds of thousand dollars and yet it didn't impress me very much as I still like to stick with traditional designs and tastes.

From simple Hira Maki-e to the most complicated time consuming Shishiai Togidashi Maki-e, the cost also rises in direct proportion. The influence of Maki-e on pens in the Maki-e world is just trifling. None of our Maki-e artists ever knew there was Maki-e on pens before we asked them to try five years ago. They Maki-e on Natsume, a small tea container for tea ceremony, all kinds of boxes, trays, dinner wares and many other big pieces. I wouldn't know how many Maki-e or Urushi pens were made in Japan a year. Let's say 10,000 pens will consume 250 lbs of Urushi, based on the fact that one pen uses around 10 grams in average, while Japanese consume 500 tons or 110,000 lbs of Urushi. The pens actually consume only around 0.0023% of what they consume a year nationwide. So, maybe there is no reason why they have to use so little fake Urushi to replace expensive genuine Urushi in order to save their cost. But it is possible, because fake Urushi does not need such difficult techniques or time consuming hard work. The only problem they will have then, is that when they use fake Urushi, it will have not have the unique character of genuine Urushi, its unique membrane which is not only incredibly hard and endurable, but makes the Urushi beautiful in colors, warm and brilliant for a thousand years.

We all know that Urushi is harder than rock. Metal can melted in aqua regia (royal water), but it can not melt Urushi away, because the Urushi is protected by its membrane. And yet, Urushi has a very serious weak point. Urushi can last thousands of years under the roof, but not under the sun. The membrane will eventually tarnish by weathering, losing its luster and becoming like chalk, and we call it "chalking". Japanese think that Urushi is a living thing. Urushi is grown by its mother trees, by help from the sun, the earth and the water, and then oxidized by an enzyme called "laccase" which hardens it. But then, the hardened Urushi will decrease its weight under ultraviolet rays and be gone with the wind. They think it is just another example of the circle of life.