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[06] Why are they Loved Nationwide? |
The story of lacquer tappers |
After Chiyozuru Kuniyasu became a swordsmith in Echizen, making sickles on the side, Echizen became a major manufacturer of bladed farm tools.
Amidst the increasing blade quality and the production of a wide variety of bladed farm tools in Echizen lies the story of the lacquer tappers who would travel nationwide to collect the sap to use in Echizen lacquerware. They offered sickles made in Echizen in place of money for meals or lodging, sold bladed tools on their trips, and came back to Echizen with orders for sickles designed to meet each area's unique needs.
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The diversity of the blades produced in Echizen can be seen in the tools used by lacquer tappers.
From sickles used to peel off the bark of the lacquer tree to sickles designed to cut a groove in the tree to drain out the lacquer sap, or even spatulas to pick up and collect the drained sap, Echizen blade-makers produced tools perfectly suited to lacquer tappers' work.
And of course, when a tool is used for years to collect lacquer, the coat of lacquer that builds onto it over the years gives it a beautiful glossy finish.
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