石川新情報書府・輪島塗


	A Kiji (Soji) is a wooden core for a piece of lacquerware which is carved from raw wood into an approximate lacquerware shape. The wooden cores for Wajima Lacquerware bowls are usually made from two types of wood--Zelkova or Mizume cherry. It is believed that the abundance of these types of wood is one factor that has helped further the development of Wajima Lacquerware as it exists today.

Zelkova logs are dried under natural conditions for two to three years to allow the bark decompose and the wood to cure.
The dried logs are cut into different shapes depending on what kind of piece will be made.
The wood is carved into a very rough bowl shape.
The roughly carved core is smoked and dried on a bed of sawdust.	4. Kunen Kanso (Smoking and Drying)
The core is dried naturally for a period lasting from several months to a full year. This prevents warping after the piece is completed.
The core is carved into a bowl which is a little bigger than the actual, finished piece will be. It is then smoked and dried again.
The core is carved one last time using special rulers to carefully measure its diameter and external form.
The inside of the bowl is smoothed and finished on a lathe.	9. Sokobiki
After the bottom of the bowl has been finished on a lathe, the core (kiji) is finished. Some bowls are so thin that you can see light through them.	9. Sokobiki

Wajima Lacquerware has been marketed through a system based on special orders. There are hundreds of different kinds of cores because craftsmen make each piece according to a certain customer's order. For this reason, the tools used to carve the cores are also made by the craftsmen themselves.

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