Kara-nuri

This Urushi technique is from Tsugaru and it stands out with its colorful speckled design. It features different color mixes, with four to six layers of lacquer applied unevenly. The final touch highlights the cross-section by sharpening the edges.

Tsugaru-nuri

Tsugaru-nuri or Tsugaru Urushi refers to lacquerware made in Tsugaru – a city located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Being known as one of the most skill-intensive Urushi technique, Tsugaru-nuri is sophisticated yet stunningly beautiful with its unusual finish.

Sekai Tsugaru fountain pen is crafted with Kara-nuri – a high-quality Tsugaru-nuri technique that illustrates distinctive speckled patterns created by four to six different Urushi color lacquers. With this technique, many layers of different Urushi are applied unevenly to wooden or ebonite surface. After a long period of 3-4 months when Urushi lacquer is dry, artisans will start polishing to even the surface. The final finish will then become smoothly glossy and show the mottled patterns.The whole process takes 6-7 months and is totally done by hands.

The “age” in Aka-age refers to the effect of the main color that is finally raisedover other complementary colors.

Our Story

Our Wancher team visited Chiang Mai, Thailand, and began to communicate with local craftsmen. We were increasingly fascinated by this story, and started the “KINMA-edition” project, a time-travel series to explore the roots of the Kinma art.
One of the Urushi techniques of Kagawa Prefecture is called Kinma-nuri. In this process, a delicate pattern is carved into the lacquer base with a carving tool and then make the carved grooves are filled with colored Urushi, and finally the surface is polished repeatedly to express the intended pattern. This Kinma-nuri technique actually has its roots in Thailand, where it was introduced to the Sanuki region at the end of the Muromachi period (1333-1573) through China.

Furthermore, “Kinma” means “carving onto the flat surfaces offer more design possibilities than curved surfaces,” which led to the creation of the Sekai “Densho” fountain pen (four and six facets). Currently, we are working hard to produce Kinma-nuri fountain pens in Thailand and Japan. It will be a painstaking and time-consuming manual process, but we are looking forward to the day when we will be able to present our fountain pen to you.

The Tsugaru-nuri edition of Densho Pen is one of the masterpieces of modern Urushi lacquer and is a work where you can feel the fascination of the technique. We hope you will enjoy these exciting masterpieces.

Specification

• Filling mechanism:Converter or Cartridge (European International Standard)
• Art & Technique: Tsugaru Urushi, Kara-nuri
• Nib: #5 Wancher stainless steel
• Feed: Plastic