Maki-e: The Lacquer Art of NAKANO Koichi

In 2010 Nakano Koichi was named a Holder of an Important Intangible Cultural Property: Maki-e, a title more popularly known as Living National Treasure. Maki-e is the 1,200-year-old Japanese art of sprinkling powdered gold, silver, and other precious metals onto lacquer designs. True to his conviction that the finest care must be given precisely to parts that will not be seen, Nakano executes every step of the lacquer work himself, from preparing the surface of the wooden base to creating the lacquer ground and applying the ornamentation. This film follows Nakano at work on a new project featuring shishiai togidashi maki-e, or "raised and burnished maki-e," one of the most involved and complicated techniques in the craft.