Negoro-nuri Lacquer Incense Container by Ichiro — Aged Vermillion

Experience Authentic Japan Art with this Negoro Lacquer Incense Container. This Japanese Lacquer Kogo serves as a Ceremonial Tea Accessory and Zen Interior Decor, featuring Aged Vermillion Lacquer and Wabi Sabi Aesthetic—a must-have for any Art Collector. This Negoro Nuri Kogo by master lacquer artist Ichiro displays the profound beauty of time-worn lacquer work, where centuries of tradition speak through a single, still object.

🔹 [ Basic Details ]
• Artist: Ichiro (一良)
• Technique: Negoro-nuri (根来塗) — layered lacquer with red over black
• Era: 2010s–present
• Origin: Japan
• Dimensions: Height approx. 3.6 cm, Diameter approx. 7.2 cm
• Box: Shared wooden box with purple cord (共箱)
• Condition: Excellent vintage condition; natural age patina as expected and desired

🔹 [ Cultural & Artistic Insight ]
Negoro-nuri originates from Negoro-dera temple in Wakayama Prefecture, where monks used lacquerware for daily ritual. The technique applies vermillion urushi over a black base coat; decades of use wear through the red to reveal the dark ground below, creating landscapes of time on the surface. This is not damage — it is the work arriving at its intended beauty.

The flat, compact form of this kogo is quiet authority. It holds incense during the tea ceremony with the same composure a monk carries silence through a corridor.

POETIC LINE: "The red does not fade — it deepens, the way a memory becomes essential by being held for years."

🔹 [ Deep-Dive Commentary ]
Negoro lacquer is among Japan's oldest lacquerware traditions, distinct from maki-e and chinkin in its refusal of decoration. The beauty is entirely structural — the relationship between accumulated coats and accumulated time. No two pieces age identically; each Negoro object is therefore unrepeatable.

The kogo (香合, incense container) is one of the seven essential utensils in chanoyu (the Way of Tea). Its scale is deliberately intimate — meant to be held, examined, passed between hands. A flat-form kogo like this invites study of the lacquer surface up close, where the interplay between vermillion and black is most visible.

Ichiro's craftsmanship shows restraint. The form is not embellished. The lid sits with precision. The purple cord on the shared box signals awareness of the object's ceremonial context — storage is presentation in tea culture.

For collectors entering Japanese lacquerware, Negoro represents the ideal entry point: historically significant, visually immediate, and deeply coherent with the wabi sensibility that anchors Japanese aesthetics.

【日本語解説】

🔹 [ 基本情報 ]
• 作家：一良
• 技法：根来塗（黒漆の上に朱漆を重ね、使用によって下地が現れる）
• 年代：2010年代以降
• 産地：日本
• 寸法：高さ約3.6cm、径約7.2cm
• 箱：共箱（紫紐）
• 状態：経年による自然な朱の剥落あり。これは根来塗の本来の美であり、状態の良さを示す

🔹 [ 文化・芸術的背景 ]
根来塗は、和歌山・根来寺の僧侶たちが日常の仏具として使用した漆器に起源を持つ。黒漆の上に朱漆を幾重にも重ね、時間の経過とともに朱が剥がれて下地の黒が見え始める。その剥落の景色こそが根来の真の美であり、年数が経つほど深みを増す。

この香合の形状は極めて簡素である。装飾を排し、形そのものの緊張感と朱と黒の関係性のみで成立している。茶の湯の空間において、この沈黙は雄弁だ。

🔹 [ 上級コレクター向け解説 ]
根来塗は、蒔絵や沈金とは異なり、装飾を一切持たない。美は構造そのものに宿り、時間の堆積が表面を彫刻する。同じ根来は二つとなく、それゆえ各作品は唯一無二である。

香合は茶の湯における七種の必須道具のひとつ。その小さな器体は手の中に収まるほどで、茶人の間で静かに回覧される。一良の作は余計な主張をしない。蓋の収まりは精確で、紫紐の共箱が儀礼的な文脈への敬意を示している。

🔹 [ SHIPPING & PACKAGING ]
• Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days
• Carrier: Japan Post EMS / UPS (with tracking)
• Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials