Home / Series / 15 Minutes / Aired Order / Season 2021 / Episode 16

A Treasured Creation: The Bond with Urushi, Japanese Lacquer

Japan's world-famous lacquerware is prized for its versatility, beauty and shine, which is due to the varnish made from the sap of Urushi trees. This sap is harvested by hand in small amounts through a meticulous process of scraping and cutting. Tobita Yuzo (86) carries on a lifelong pledge of brotherhood to the Urushi trees as one of the last few remaining harvesters. To make sure this legacy continues, Tobita plants thousands of new trees in the hopes of making a forest full of Urushi.

English
  • Originally Aired December 15, 2021
  • Runtime 15 minutes
  • Network NHK World
  • Created December 16, 2021 by
    soulflexin
  • Modified September 2, 2022 by
    Deleted User 2390151