What is Shippo-yaki?
Shippo (七宝) means “seven treasures” — the jewels of Buddhist scripture. The name was given to this craft because its fired-glass colors were thought as beautiful as gold, silver, lapis lazuli and pearl. Shippo-yaki is the Japanese art of cloisonné enamel: glass fused onto metal at high temperature.
A craft born in Owari,
refined for two centuries.
Owari cloisonné began in the early 19th century in the Owari region of Aichi, and the village where it flourished came to be called Shippo-cho — “Cloisonné Town”. In the Meiji era its vases and panels won medals at world expositions and became prized exports of Japan.
Tamura Shippo has kept its kiln burning in this very town since 1883, as one of the few remaining makers of authentic Owari cloisonné.
About Our Kiln
Hair-thin silver wires
draw the design.
In yüsen shippo, the signature technique of Owari, ribbons of silver finer than a hair are bent and set upright on the metal body, tracing the outline of the design. The cells between the wires are then filled with translucent glass enamels, one color at a time.
The silver lines catch the light, sharpening the boundary of each color — petals, birds and flowing water emerge with a clarity no brush could give.
Made by hand, fired by fire.
Design & Wirework
The design is drawn on the metal body, and silver wires are set upright along every line by hand.
Enamelling
Glass enamels — ground to a paste — are laid into each cell with a fine bamboo pen, color by color.
Firing & Polishing
The piece is fired at around 800°C, refilled and refired many times, then ground and polished until the silver lines and glass surface become one.
