Researchers have differing opinions on whether Japanese lacquer trees and the urushi culture came from China or whether they grew in Japan originally.

The beginning of lacquer tree

Lacquer (Urushi) tree - Toxicodendron vernicifluum (formerly Rhus verniciflua), also known by the common name lacquer tree is an Asian tree species of genus Toxicodendron. Recent research on poison ivy suggests that it was introduced to Japan from mainland China during or before the Jomon period (14,000 B.C. - 3rd~5th century B.C.).[1]
Lacquer trees are ecologically quite different from other plants of the genus Toxicodendron , and it turns out that lacquer trees are not wild in Japan.[2] and ones found in the mountains are survivors of recent plantings. The same is true in Korea, where wild lacquer trees grow only in some areas of China. (Southeast Asian lacquer trees are different plants because of their different genes and composition.)
There are two genetically distinct groups of wild lacquer trees, one in central China and the other in the coastal areas of eastern China. The Japanese cultivated lacquer tree is derived from the eastern Chinese group, and the cultivated lacquer tree of Japan and Korea and the wild lacquer tree of Liaoning and Shandong Provinces have exactly the same nucleotide sequence.

The uniqueness of the Jomon period and the maturity of the urushi culture have led to the theory that the species is native to Japan, but no pollen of the lacquer tree has been excavated from old strata in Japan. Furthermore, the DNA of Japanese lacquer trees is the same as that of the Korean Peninsula, its northern part, and Shandong Province in China, suggesting that lacquer trees from these regions were brought to Japan through repeated exchanges.
Since a piece of lacquer tree excavated from the Torihama shell mound in Wakasa Town, Fukui Prefecture, is the oldest piece of lacquer tree in the world, dating back to about 12,600 years ago[3], it is believed to have been flowed in Japan before that time.

Ancient urushi pieces

Japanese urushi culture began at the end of the early Jomon period (14,000 B.C. - 3rd~5th century B.C.) and has continued to the present day.
Currently, the oldest urushi piece in the world is a textile piece excavated from the Kakinoshima B site in Hakodate, Hokkaido, in August 2000, dating to the Early Jomon Period (about 9,000 years ago).[4] Until then, an urushi comb (7,500 years ago) discovered at the Kamikutsuro Nakayashiki site in Toyama Prefecture, a fragment of an urushi comb (about 7,200 years ago) discovered at the Mitsubiki site in Ishikawa Prefecture,[5] and a "red urushi comb" (about 6100 years ago) excavated from the Torihama shell mound in Wakasa Town, Mikata-Kaminaka County, Fukui Prefecture were known as the oldest urushi pieces in the world.[6]

Various urushi pieces have been excavated from sites dating from the Middle to Late Jomon Period, from Hokkaido to Kanto region in Japan. Urushi trees are thought to have been planted, and there are also ruins that appear to be those of a home of a urushi craftsman and his house where a large amount of unfinished urushi ware was found.[7]
In some cases, a single site may not have the materials and tools considered necessary for the processes involved in urushi craft. This indicates that urushi craft at that time was not completed within a single village, but was an activity that was established in cooperation with people in surrounding and remote areas.
On the other hand, the basic technique of urushi lacquering, in which urushi is first absorbed into a wood to harden it, and then applied over and over again, had already reached a state of near perfection by the Jomon period.
In order to make red-colored urushi coating pieces, transparent urushi must be refined, mixed with red pigments (Bengala [Red Iron Oxide] or mercury vermillion), and kneaded patiently to produce red urushi. Making red pigment is also very time-consuming.[8] Also, the urushi that has been so painstakingly refined will harden in a few hours if left unattended, so it is necessary to take a measure to prevent this (today, it is sealed with plastic wrap, for example). The red urushi combs show that far more advanced craft techniques were established in that period than those associated with Jomon earthenware.

The beginning of maki-e

The oldest maki-e (sprinkled picture decoration with gold/silver powder) in Japan is called "matsukinru" - it's one of Togidashi-maki-e(Nihon Kogeikai), which is applied to a sheath of large sword in the Shōsō-in. (Shōsō-in the treasure house of Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara.) Small gold powders of various sizes and shapes were used, which were ground with rasp. They were used without being sorted by size using a sieve.[9]
Since this piece is from the Nara period (710-784), it is said that the history of maki-e began in the Nara period. The basic techniques of maki-e were completed in the Kamakura period (1192-1333). The "Hatsune no Choudo" (National Treasure), produced in 1639 as wedding furnishings for Princess Chiyo, the eldest daughter of the third Tokugawa Shogun, Iemitsu, is known as one of the greatest masterpieces of maki-e.[10]

References

1.	Yuichiro Kudo. (2021). "The culture of urushi in the Jomon Period and various issues related to its origin: From a scholarly-historical perspective to today's issues". (Thesis)(Download PDF file)
2.	Shuichi Noshiro. (2009). "Reexamination of the taxonomy and wood anatomy of urushi and development of a locality identification technique". (Report of Research Results, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research).
3.	Shikoku Shimbun. (2023). "A 12,000-year-old piece of urushi wood, the oldest in the world, excavated in Fukui, Japan".
4.	Hokkaido Prefecture. "The Jomon of the North: An Introduction to the Kakinoshima A and B Ruins".
5.	Government of Japan Public Relations Office Online. (2002). "The Charm of URUSHI".
6.	Wakasa Museum of History, Wakasa, Japan. (2020). "Special Exhibition 'Important Cultural Property Torihama Shell Mound, Two Combs and Mysterious Urushi Vessels'"
7.	Takayuki Honda. (2022). "Japanese culture of urushi ware has a richness not found in the disposable culture". Meiji.net
8.	Yuka Gamo, Kenta Hagiwara. (2021). "The Spatial Development of Urushi Artifacts in the Late Jomon Period: Analysis of Site A, Toyama Prefecture, Japan". (Download PDF file)
9.	Kazumi Murose. (2011). "On the Upper Decorative Techniques of Gold and Silver on a large Sword".
10.	Tokugawa Art Museum. (2011). "National Treasure: Hatsune's Furniture - Japan's No.1 Wedding Furnishings".
11.	Asahi Shimbun. (2022). "Grand Maki-e Exhibition: A Thousand Year Story of Urushi and Gold

All of them are in Japanese except 7.

2024.05.14