Study on Method of Observing Maki-e Crafts Work in Urushi Craftspeople

摘要

Urushi crafts is a representative traditional crafts in Japan. Good Urushi crafts work had made in various periods in history in Japan, and it has been kept by the policymaker, shrine, temple and a person on the street. Urushi crafts work is damaged and Urushi comes off over a course of a long period of time. Urushi craftspeople need to identify the characteristics and conditions of the work when it is repaired because they can't repair the work appropriately. When the craftspeople identify the characteristics and conditions of the work, they observe the work by the naked eye. This observation technique is called "Mitate". This research aimed to know difference of a motion of the Urushi crafts work between the expert Urushi craftspeople and the non-expert Urushi craftspeople when they conduct the Mitate. The motion of the specimen and subject's head were measured when the expert and non-expert Urushi craftspeople conducted the Mitate of the Maki-e specimen. As the results, it is found that the expert can identify the change in appearance of Maki-e surface by moving the specimen up and down a little. Furthermore, he can skip the up-and-down motion and shorten the observation time by comparing one specimen with the other specimen in the case of the different number of the gold powder.