Prologue · The bench
Forty years on one workbench.
I · Where it was found
A closing workshop on the outskirts of Kyoto.
The doors were shutting. The box was still on the bench.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
II · How it was made
The sap of the urushi tree.
Laid on coat by coat.
Each left to cure before the next.
Then the koi, in gold.
III · Untaught
Hand-lacquered using a technique its maker never taught to an apprentice.
There will be no second piece made this way.
IV · Every side of it
Turn it over.
Photograph to come
Photograph to come
Photograph to come
V · As it was
Restored.Altered. As it was.
The same object that sat on that workbench for forty years, now waiting on yours.
Held until checkout. Nothing closes until you confirm.
EraMid-20th century
CatalogDOKU N° 014
Edition1 of 1 — no reissue
MaterialHand-lacquered wood
VI · The city behind it
Kyoto has worked lacquer for more than a thousand years.
Tō-ji temple marketWhere this craft still lives. Kōbō-san, held in the grounds of Tō-ji on the 21st of every month — one of Japan's oldest flea markets.
VII · Yours
Its maker kept the technique.You can keep the box.
1 of 1. Once it's held, no one else can.
