Ishikawa Students Make Commemorative Wajima Lacquerware; Continuing Traditions After Noto Peninsula Earthquake

The Yomiuri Shimbun

7:00 JST, December 16, 2024

WAJIMA, Ishikawa – Sixth-grade students in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, which was hit by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, have started making panels decorated with Wajima’s traditional chinkin gold-inlaid lacquerware technique to commemorate their upcoming graduation.

Chinkin is a technique in which gold leaf or gold powder is used to fill in patterns which have been carved into lacquerware.

A similar event is held every year, and a total of 90 students from nine primary schools are working on the panels this year at a temporary school building in Kawaimachi, which houses six primary schools affected by the disaster.

The students started working earlier this month. Students from Kawai and Oya primary schools carved designs like Mt. Fuji and maneki neko beckoning cats on lacquered panels. When a craftsman embeds gold powder into the patterns and polishes the surface of the lacquerware, the gold gilded designs truly stand out on the panels.