Osaki lacquerware shop/Lacquer and Clerestory

Yoshiharu Tsukamoto Laboratory (Tokyo Institute of Technology)

13 May 2022

The earthen space in the Osaki lacquerware shop. The quality of lacquerware is verified by steaming the finished lacquerware in a pot placed on the earthen floor. High-placed windows enable heat and steam from the pot to escape and provide light. The high-placed windows can be opened and closed from the room on the second floor. The pillars and beams on the walls are lacquered.

Osaki lacquerware shop
(Wajima paint/Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture)

This article is an excerpt from “Window Workology,” a joint research project concerning windows and the behaviors around them done in collaboration with Tokyo Institute of Technology’s Yoshiharu Tsukamoto Laboratory.