Sakashita Kosei

Yamanaka-nuri maki-e and nashiji interiors

Sakashita Kosei (坂下好晴) is a contemporary maki-e lacquerer working in the Yamanaka tradition of Ishikawa Prefecture. His natsume — small wooden tea caddies layered with lacquer and gold — favor restrained motifs drawn from grasses and bamboo. Interiors finish in nashiji, the gold-flecked surface that catches the light when the lid is lifted.

The Yamanaka tradition

Yamanaka-nuri (山中塗) is one of the lacquer traditions of Kaga, in northern Ishikawa, with origins reaching back roughly four centuries. Its practitioners are known for the precision of their wood-turning — bowls and caddies are shaped on the lathe to thin, exact walls, then layered with urushi and decorated. The craft is family-based, passed down through workshops within the Yamanaka Onsen district.

Technique

Kosei's surfaces work in maki-e — the deliberate sprinkling of metallic powder onto wet lacquer, sealed beneath additional layers. His finishes can use multiple tones of gold within a single motif — warm gold, green-tinged gold, copper-gold — suggesting depth and shadow without painted detail. Interiors are commonly finished in nashiji: fine flakes of gold suspended in clear lacquer, layered until light comes back from beneath the surface itself.

How to read his work

Kosei's natsume are signed on the accompanying paulownia box (tomobako). The motif typically occupies a single face, with the remaining surface left as ground. The interior is a second piece in its own right — hidden until the lid is lifted, a smaller composition meant for the holder's eye alone.

Currently available

Pieces by Sakashita Kosei held in the archive at this writing:

• Bamboo Grove (Chikurin) Maki-e Hira-Natsume — multi-tone gold on black urushi
• Maki-e Natsume Sasa-Tsuyu — bamboo grass and dew, with nashiji interior

The list is updated as inventory turns.

See also

Another lacquerer working in the Yamanaka tradition appears elsewhere in the archive: Sakashita Yuho.