Vintage Japanese Hand Crafted Wood Hida Shunkei Lacquer Tray Obon Ozen 13.5"

This is a vintage Japanese wooden lacquered tray called an obon or ozen. It was made in the Hida Takayama region of Gifu prefecture in the Shunkei lacquer ware tradition and hand crafted in the mid to late Showa ear c 1960's -1980's. This type of natural lacquer ware has been famous in Japan for centuries. What makes Hida Shunkei lacquer ware so special is the way that the beauty of the surface of the wood is brought out by the application of a transparent coating of lacquer. It is produced by a special method from raw natural lacquer and used to coat the wood.

The technique is still used today in the making of many household items such as trays, boxes of may kinds, as well as tea ceremony items. There are some 95 firms employing over 250 skilled specialists, 31 of which are nationally recognized as Master Craftsmen. It is made of hand crafted cryptomeria wood with over 20 coats of Japanese special natural urushi lacquer.

Having been in storage for most of the past 40+ years and perhaps never used, this tray remains like new and is in excellent condition.  This tray measures 13 1/2" in diameter by 1 3/4" tall (34 x 4 cm). Please note the other objects seen in the first pictures are not included in this listing. This listing is for tray only.