A hexagonal natsume in kuro ikkan lacquer — the black woven-cloth-textured ground technique associated with Yamanaka lacquerware — bearing kakitsubata iris in gold, amber, and green maki-e across its faces and lid. The work is signed by Nakamura Soetsu, an artisan working within the Yamanaka lacquer tradition, and comes with its original shiho-san (four-rail) wooden tomobako, brushwork-signed and sealed.
The form is six-sided, an unusual choice that catches light at each angle differently, allowing the iris composition to read as both continuous and faceted. The lid surface carries a single iris bloom in the full vocabulary of maki-e — togidashi or hira-maki-e rendering in the gold of the flower, green stems rendered in thin lines, the whole composition resting in silence against deep black.
▸ Type: Natsume (tea caddy for thin tea, usucha) ▸ Style: Yamanaka-nuri, kuro ikkan technique, hexagonal form ▸ Artist: Nakamura Soetsu (中村宗悦), Yamanaka lacquer artisan ▸ Motif: Kakitsubata (iris) in gold and polychrome maki-e ▸ Dimensions: Height approx. 7 cm, width approx. 6.2 × 7 cm, weight approx. 37 g ▸ Box: Shiho-san tomobako (four-rail shared box), signed and sealed ▸ Cloth: Tomobukuro present ▸ Condition: Good vintage condition, lacquer intact
◆ Yamanaka-Nuri and Ikkan Yamanaka lacquerware (Ishikawa Prefecture) developed its own vocabulary of surface techniques over four centuries. Ikkan-nuri — derived from the technique of the lay monk Ikkan, who brought textile-impressed lacquer surfaces from China — creates a woven grid texture across the wood body before the lacquer is applied. The contrast between this matte, structured field and the polished lid surface is essential to the object's visual drama.
◆ Kakitsubata — The Iris as Season In Japanese culture, kakitsubata (Iris laevigata) belongs to early summer, to the world of water and contemplation. It appears throughout the tea tradition as a motif that locates the ceremony in time: not spring's urgency, not autumn's resignation, but the clear stillness of early June.
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