Woods and Natural Colors in Yosegi

Every color in a piece of Hakone yosegi comes from a type of wood. There is no paint and no dye. This page explains which woods supply which colors, why the Hakone mountains made the craft possible, and how the colors change over time.

A palette from the forest

Hakone Town describes the Hakone mountain range as boasting some of Japan's finest tree species, and the yosegi craft as a technique that uses the natural colors of the various trees to create geometric patterns. Japan Traditional Crafts Aoyama Square, the showroom of the national traditional craft association, says the craft uses more than 50 types of wood, sorted by color. The official standards for the designated craft require that patterns be made from undyed wood grain.

Web Japan adds that the colors come from differences in species, location, age and other aspects of the wood. Because of this, no two pieces are exactly alike. Ken Ota, a Hakone artisan profiled by Web Japan, notes that different workshops use different woods, so each workshop's tones and patterns have their own character.

Woods by color

The traditional craft association and Hakone makers group woods by the color they contribute. The list below combines the woods named by the association and by Izumiya, a Hakone workshop. Common English names are given; some woods have several names.

White

The association lists the Japanese spindle tree (mayumi), holly, linden, sen (castor aralia) and dogwood among the white woods. Izumiya names spindle tree and Ilex macropoda, a Japanese holly, for white.

Yellow

Yellow woods include the lacquer tree, mulberry, Picrasma quassioides (nigaki, a bitterwood), and the Japanese wax tree, according to the association. Izumiya lists picrasma, mulberry and sumac for yellow. Spindle tree and bitter orange are listed by the association for pale yellow.

Green, blue and gray

The association lists magnolia for greenish and grayish tones. Izumiya names the Japanese cucumber tree, a magnolia, as the source of blue. The heartwood of the Japanese magnolia (ho-no-ki) has a characteristic greenish-gray color that shows clearly in many Hakone patterns.

Brown

Brown is the broadest group. The association's list includes katsura, walnut, camphor, mulberry, zelkova, cherry and Japanese pagoda tree, among others. Izumiya names camphor and maackia for brown, and American walnut for purple-brown.

Red

Strong reds often come from imported wood. The association lists padauk, an imported tropical hardwood, as a red wood. Izumiya names "Chinese cedar" for red.

Black and dark tones

For black and very dark brown, makers use ebony and jindai wood. Jindai, literally "age of the gods," is wood that has been buried for a very long time, for example under volcanic deposits, and has darkened naturally. The association lists jindai varieties of katsura, zelkova and cherry among its darker woods. Izumiya names aged katsura for black.

Local and imported woods

The craft began with the woods of the Hakone mountains, but it has never been limited to them. The national ministry's interpretive text for Hatajuku notes that yosegi techniques have evolved, with imported wood now used to express a greater variety of color. Padauk and American walnut are examples of imported species that appear on the association's and makers' lists.

Woods for the box itself

The mosaic veneer is only the surface. The standards for the designated craft list woods suitable for the joinery underneath, including Japanese cedar, Japanese cypress (hinoki), paulownia, katsura, magnolia, sen, kihada (Amur cork tree), mulberry, zelkova, camphor, walnut, ebony, rosewood and tagayasan, or wood of equivalent quality.

Why drying matters

The first step in the official process is drying. The standards require natural drying, and the traditional craft association describes drying marquetry materials in the shade until they are thoroughly dry. Well-dried wood moves less as humidity changes, which matters for a craft that joins dozens of species, each of which expands and contracts at its own rate, and for puzzle boxes whose panels must keep sliding smoothly.

How colors age

Natural wood changes color with exposure to light and air, and different species change differently. Pale woods may yellow, some reds deepen or fade, and the whole mosaic tends to mellow. Finishes such as rubbed lacquer and wax, both permitted by the craft standards, protect the surface but do not stop this natural aging. Keeping yosegi out of strong direct sunlight slows the change; see caring for puzzle boxes.

Reading a piece

When you look at a yosegi box, try to name the woods by color: the bright white of spindle tree or holly, the yellow of mulberry or picrasma, the greenish gray of magnolia, the rich browns of walnut and katsura, and the near-black of ebony or jindai. Each small diamond or triangle is a cross-section of a carefully cut strip, and seeing the grain change from one shape to the next is the surest sign that you are looking at real wood mosaic. See traditional patterns for how these colors are arranged.

Sources

• Hakone Town: Hakone-Yosegi-Zaiku
• Japan Traditional Crafts Aoyama Square: HAKONE Yosegi Zaiku
• Web Japan: Yosegi-zaiku, Parquet Work That Demonstrates the Infinite Beauty of Wood
• Izumiya: Japanese Puzzle Box and Yosegi Introduction
• Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism: Yosegi, Hatajuku, and Ichirizuka (PDF)