Shitsurindo

The Kawada district of Sabae City, Fukui Prefecture — where Shitsurindo has its workshop — is a land where lacquerware making has long taken root, because the cloudy and humid climate suits lacquer curing. As the central producing region of Echizen lacquerware — occupying about 80% of the domestic share of professional lacquerware — the region has supported lacquerware used at inns and restaurants nationwide.

At founding, Shitsurindo's family business had roots in "lacquer tapping" — collecting urushi. Later, specializing in the lacquer coating process as a lacquerer, the workshop handled round-shaped lacquerware including bowls. Even as eras changed, using natural urushi and the attitude of finishing one by one by hand are passed down unchanged.

Long mainstay was professional lacquerware — but from the wish to deliver lacquerware's appeal to more people, the workshop has also put energy into in-house brand building for households. Launching "aisomo cosomo" with characteristic pop coloring, "RIN&CO." leveraging techniques from across Hokuriku, and others — while based on traditional techniques, the workshop proposes vessels matching modern lifestyles.

The "Echizen Hard Lacquer" series is one symbolic initiative of these challenges. The original coating that draws out the inherent strength of lacquer realizes durability that withstands dishwashers — earning support as lacquerware you can use without hesitation at the daily table. Centered on bowls just right for daily use — the Ichijo bowl following traditional form, and the flared-rim Asakura bowl — the series is developed.

Shitsurindo also works on place-making at its directly managed store as a base — "see, touch, and experience" places with shop, showroom, workshops, and factory tours. Through wiping-lacquer experiences by artisans, kintsugi classes, and factory tours, the workshop opens up the processes through which lacquerware is born — aiming to connect lacquer culture to the next generation.

"100 years from now, we'll still be applying lacquer." Under that vision, while cherishing inherited techniques, the workshop continues craftsmanship looking ahead to Echizen lacquerware's future — from both tradition and innovation sides — through producing-region vertical integration, new technology development, and collaboration with other fields.

Founded in 1793, purveyor to Daihonzan Eiheiji Temple

Shitsurindo is a lacquerer founded in 1793 (Kansei 5). In the Kawada district of Sabae City, Fukui Prefecture — the producing region of Echizen lacquerware — the workshop has inherited lacquer coating for 8 generations, manufacturing and selling lacquerware including bowls as a purveyor to Daihonzan Eiheiji Temple.

"Coating beauty. Stacking craft." — Vessel making balancing beauty and robustness

Echizen lacquerware is both a traditional craft and a tool of daily life. Using natural urushi, under a division-of-labor system of wood base makers, undercoaters, lacquerers, and maki-e artists, Shitsurindo works on lacquerware combining glossy beauty and sturdy long-lasting robustness.

Dishwasher-compatible "Echizen Hard Lacquer" series

Developed through industry-academia-government collaboration with Fukui Prefecture and the University of Fukui, "Echizen Hard Lacquer" is characterized by a hard coating that withstands dishwashers. Bowls leveraging traditional forms — Ichijo bowl, Asakura bowl — are proposed as daily vessels with functionality suited to modern living.

Diverse brand development including aisomo cosomo and RIN&CO.

Multiple in-house brands are developed — including the colorful "aisomo cosomo" born from the wish to have younger generations use lacquerware casually, and "RIN&CO." leveraging the craftsmanship of the Hokuriku region. Based on professional lacquerware techniques, the brand expands new possibilities of lacquerware with design and colors that fit modern dining tables.

Toward integrated production from the wood base. The challenge of connecting lacquer culture to the future

In 2024, a wood-base lathe was introduced and a wood base workshop for bowl manufacturing was newly established. Building an integrated production system from wood base manufacturing to lacquer coating, the workshop works on resolving regional challenges and inheriting lacquer culture — while responding to small-lot custom orders and OEM.