Wajima lacquerware natsume with gold and red maki-e depicting autumn maple leaves, flowing water, and a raft in the hanaikada motif — a tea caddy for collectors of Wajima-nuri, autumn-theme maki-e lacquerware, and signed Japanese lacquer tea caddies with nashiji technique.
[ CULTURAL CONTEXT ] Hanaikada — the flower raft — is one of the canonical motifs of Japanese decorative arts. Petals fallen onto flowing water, carried on the current: it is a composition about transience and the beauty inseparable from it. In the tea ceremony, an autumn natsume bearing this motif asks the guest to be present to the season — not just in the garden but in the object held across the lacquered surface. Wajima-nuri, produced in the Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture, is the standard against which Japanese lacquerware is measured.
[ DEEP DIVE ] Wajima lacquerware (輪島塗) achieves its durability through a process of multiple lacquer layers applied over a fabric-reinforced base (nunokise), ground and polished between each coat. The process for a single piece can involve over a hundred steps. Nashiji — the pear-skin gold ground — is created by sifting gold powder of varying particle sizes onto wet lacquer to create a shimmering field. Against this, the hanaikada motif in takamaki-e (raised gold) creates depth through physical relief, the composition existing in multiple planes simultaneously.
🔹 [ SHIPPING & PACKAGING ] • Dispatch: Within 1-6 business days • Carrier: Japan Post EMS / UPS (with tracking) • Packaging: Carefully wrapped with protective materials
