Urushi Art × Future: Who Is Keisuke Sano, the Young Urushi Artist Creating "Enigma" with Techniques from 1,000 Years Ago?

2025.07.23

#Artisan

#Craftsperson

#Gunma

#Urushi Art

#The Future of Handmade Work

#Young Artisans

#The Future Map of Craft

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Is this a tool, a work of art, or perhaps a new form of prayer for the future?

When you see Keisuke Sano's series of small boxes, called "Enigma," anyone will feel their notions of "traditional crafts" being shaken. Each surface of these 5.3 cm cubes is densely decorated with techniques such as Raden (mother-of-pearl inlay), Hyomon, and Maki-e. While using Urushi techniques that have existed for hundreds of years, the expression is completely new. We visited the studio of this 31-year-old young artisan, who creates these mysterious works.

PROFILE

Keisuke Sano

Urushi artist. Born in 1994, Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture; currently lives there. Graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Crafts (Master's program). Creates works using Urushi techniques such as Raden, Maki-e, Hyomon, and dry lacquer.

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Encounter with Crafting: The Crossroads of Urushi & Rocket Engines

Sano was born and raised in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture, and still bases his creative work there. The reason he set out on the path of traditional craft was quite a simple encounter.

"Ever since I was a child, I loved making things with my hands. I remember being shocked the first time I encountered a piece of traditional craft—the light would change color between red, green, and blue as I looked at it from different angles. I wondered, what is this beautiful thing?"

That was "Raden." By cutting a seashell paper-thin, sticking it onto wood coated in Urushi (lacquer), and then recoating it with Urushi and polishing the surface, the shimmer of the shell emerges. This Urushi technique came from China to Japan during the Nara period and evolved uniquely. Without even knowing the technique, he was deeply drawn to it. But, surprisingly, Sano originally aimed not to be a craft artist, but a mechanical engineer.