Beautiful and Authentic Lacquerware, Japanese Lacquer Bowls

Japanese lacquer bowl with beautiful gloss

Smooth and Glossy! Japanese Lacquer Bowls

Smooth and glossy.
How about Japanese lacquer bowl that fit your hand gently?
In Japanese style, we directly eat soup from soup bowl.
So, soup bowls touch our mouth every day.
Smooth lacquerware bowl makes your daily dinner happy.
Japan Design Store collects stylish lacquer bowls shaved from natural wood.
Please find your masterpiece.

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Every time we touch it, Japanese lacquer bowls are comfortable

“Oh, it is not hot!”
It was the first breakfast when we started to use lacquer bowl.
I served hot miso soup in the Japanese lacquer bowl.
It was just like a magic. Since then, I had felt “it is hard to take bowls with hot soup.”

Of course, miso soup was just cooked, it was hot.
Lacquer ware bowl had gentle and smooth texture with our hands and mouth.
Warmth of natural wood and quiet texture of lacquer relaxed our heart.
“Miso soup is delicious!” My family who like hot miso soup liked the urushi bowl.
That was the moment when our family got new happy time in meal.

Wrap Gudakusan Shiru Wan with miso soup with hands on dinner table

For delicious miso soup, Japanese lacquer bowl suits well.
Every day, our hearts are soothed with smooth soup bowl.
Osuimono (Japanese broth soup), ozoni (soup with mochi rice cake), zenzai (red beans soup with rice cake), hot buckwheat noodles or udon, lacquerware bowls work a lot.
Since we use soup bowl every day, we recommend Japanese lacquer bowl that can be used for a long time.
Pair lacquer bowls would be great wedding gifts, too.

Love Japanese lacquer bowls! Japan Design Store recommends these

We unintentionally fall in love with beautiful lacquerware bowls.
Just looking at them is happy, but Japanese lacquer bowls prove their worth when they are used in daily life. The more you use soup bowls, the more you love them.
Japan Design Store collects special Japanese lacquer bowls from all around Japan. Please find your favorite one.

[Lacquer bowls Japan Design Store recommended]

  1. 500ml capacity! Large lacquer bowls
    [WDH] Gudakusan Shiru Wan

    Red and Black Gudakusan Shiru Wan with miso soup on the table

    How about a little bit rare large lacquer bowl? “Gudakusan Shiru Wan” from WDH is good soup bowl for miso soup with a lot of ingredients. Tonjiru, fish soup, ozoni, or buckwheat noodles, large lacquer bowl works. You can also use large Japanese lacquer bowls as donburi for Kaisen don or ochazuke. In addition, you can use the bowl as café au lait bowl.

    Gudakusan Shiru Wan from WDH is authentic lacquer bowl with beautiful urushi. Gently glossy bowl suits dinner table comfortably. From its top or its side, the Japanese lacquer bowl has decent form. A studio in Kaga city of Ishikawa prefecture produces this large lacquer bowl. Kaga city is one of the famous producing area of wood turning. Craftsmen shave the Gudakusan Shiru Wan one by one with lathe. The bowl is made of natural keyaki wood.

    Beautiful gloss of Red Japanese lacquer bowl with broth soup

    This bowl is large. You may wonder “is it suitable for small hands like women’s?” But you do not have to worry about that. The height of the lacquerware bowl is about 8cm. Even one hand with a woman, it is not so hard to hold the bowl. Of course, large soup bowl is good for men’s hands.
    So, authentic Japanese lacquer bowl would be great gifts for men as well.

    A woman has Gudakusan Shiru Wan with her one hand

    The large lacquer bowl has 2 colors, Black and Red. The bowls are within exclusive paulownia box tied with sanada himo ribbon. Pair lacquer bowls would be great anniversary gifts or wedding gifts, too.


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  2. Classic but modern! Gorgeous lacquer bowls with gold paintings
    [amabro] WAN

    A woman has Ebi lacquer bowl WAN from amabro

    If you look for stylish and Japanese modern lacquer bowls, how about “WAN” from amabro? At the inside bottom of lacquer bowls, we can see cute Tai (sea cream) or Ebi (shrimp). On the side, classic golden painting is drawn. Gold line on rim has splendid atmosphere. We can feel pursuit in detail of amabro from this Japanese lacquer bowl. Amabro wishes that “we would like to tell the beauty of authentic lacquerware” through this lacquer bowl. This gorgeous lacquer bowl is made of natural keyaki.

    At one time, Japan was called as “the Golden Country.” Furniture or buildings with superb lacquer decoration surprised people in Western countries. Those skills and technique have handed over from generation to generation. Shin-Nuri, Kuro-Me-Hajiki, Aka-Me-Hajiki, and Bokashi-Nuri. We can see deep technique of Japanese lacquerware from WAN of amabro.

    Surface of lacquerware bowl WAN from amabro

    Wan is Japanese lacquer bowl filled with pursuit of amabro. In fact, it takes a lot of time and work to make a bowl since craftsmen change methods of lacquer from inside and outside the bowls. Honestly, “It may be only now when we can offer this lacquer bowl filled with Japanese lacquer skill at this price…” If you find the stocks of the lacquer bowl, that is the chance to get them!

    Inside of Japanese lacquer bowl WAN from amabro

    Close look at skills for WAN! What is “Me-Hajiki”?

    • Please look at the inside of this Japanese lacquer bowl. We can see wood grains.
      This is a method of lacquering called “Me-Hajiki.” Craftsmen put persimmon tannin directly on the undercoat, color there with color lacquer such as black or red, and overcoat with translucent or clear black lacquer. Lacquer is repelled on vessels, and small dots appears along with the vessels. In “Me-Hajiki” method, craftsmen make unevenness by using this phenomenon.


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  3. Compact lacquer bowls nest within one another!
    [Gato Mikio] TSUMUGI

    Dishes on lacquer bowls TSUMUGI from Gato Mikio

    Lacquer bowls like Matryoshka!?
    “TSUMUGI” from Gato Mikio can only be described as superb skill of Japanese craftsmen. In fact, you can make basic Japanese meal “Ichi-Ju San-Sai” with this lacquerware. 6 tableware are stacked within one bowl. Recommended items for minimalists.

    Washoku or Japanese meal is traditional Japanese food culture. It is designated as the Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2013. One of the features of Washoku is basic style of Ichi-Ju San Sai to keep health. “TSUMUGI” from Gato Mikio tells Japanese food culture as well as the beauty of Japanese lacquerware. “Tsumugi” means spinning thread out of cotton. So, “TSUMUGI” hands over Japanese tradition like spinning thread.

    Dishes on lacquer bowls TSUMUGI from Gato Mikio

    This unique lacquer bowl was born with a collaboration of a designer Ikumi Ishizaki. She builds up projects of products or graphics with companies.
    Each lacquerware of TSUMUGI is thin and light. Yamanaka lacquerware is good at “Tate Kidori” which means taking lumber from wood in accordance with the direction of wood growing. In this way, wood is hard to warp or transform. Also, it enables craftsmen to make fine finishing of thin shaving or airtight tableware. The lacquer bowls set “TSUMUGI” is produced with this skill. Please feel the beauty of wood grain of keyaki, too.

    TSUMUGI lacquerware is nesting within one another

    Gato Mikio offers 3 colors of TSUMUGI, Plain, Red and Black. All bowls are coated with urethane.


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4 reasons why Japanese lacquer bowl have been loved

Japanese people have used lacquer bowls for a long time. There are some reasons why lacquerware bowls have been used for such a long time.
Why lacquer bowl is good? Let us introduce the reasons.

  1. Not hot for hand, but keep warmth

    Japanese lacquer bowls have a feature that it is hard to conduct heat. When we pour hot soup in the lacquer bowl, the surface of the bowl is hard to become hot. So, we can hold the soup bowl with our hands easily.

    Also, Japanese lacquer bowl keeps warmth of inside.
    We can eat warm soup while it is warm.
    Incidentally, there is a tip for using Japanese lacquer bowl for a long time. Pour soup in about 80℃ (about 176℉) that is good temperature for delicious soup rather than pouring just boiled soup. In this way, you can keep beautiful lacquer bowls for a long time.

    A woman eats miso soup with lacquerware bowl

  2. Safe antibacterial effect

    Please pay attention to the antibacterial effect of lacquerware bowls! Urushi or lacquer is strong against germ. Lacquered place is hard to get germ. Since lacquer is a safe material for small children, school lunch is served in lacquerware in some elementary schools in producing area of lacquerware.

  3. Smooth texture

    Japanese lacquer bowl has attractively smooth surface. Craftsmen carefully lacquer on carefully shaved wooden base. It has unique texture of lacquerware. When our mouths touch the rim, it is very smooth.
    It is rare among the meals in the world, but in Japanese meal, we directly eat soup from soup bowl. Bowls touch our mouths every day. Therefore, smooth Japanese lacquer bowl is best.

    Soup in lacquer bowl of TSUMUGI

  4. Enjoy change over the years

    It is said that “the job of lacquerer is up to 70%.” It means, remaining 30% is the job of users. Japanese lacquer bowl gain unique gloss and taste as it is used in daily life. We can enjoy raising our original lacquer bowl by using it.
    When you get your favorite Japanese lacquer bowls, the expectation of “how this lacquerware become?” will last forever.

Natural wood is comfortable even for lacquered bowl

How is it like the inside of lacquer bowl which we cannot see its wood grain?
For Japanese lacquer bowls, there is a bowl with beautiful wood grain and a bowl without woodgrain that is lacquered repeatedly.
It is clear that former bowl is made of natural wood.

Beautiful wood grain of TSUMUGI from Gato Mikio

In fact, there are all sorts of “lacquerware bowls.” In addition to natural wood bowls, there are plastic lacquered bowls or lacquered bowls made of wooden powder packed by resin.
It is true that it takes much cost and work to cut, shave and dry natural wood. So, lacquer bowls made of resin or wooden powder are also good. (Actually, I have used one of them for a long time.)

“We cannot see the material of thickly lacquered bowls. So, plastic or resin bowls would be same.”
You may think so. However, Japan Design Store recommends natural wooden bowls.
Lacquer bowl made of natural wood has better non-conductive and keeping warm effect. Also, we can feel the beauty of wood grain from carefully produced natural wood lacquerware bowl.

Japan Design Store only introduces Japanese lacquer bowls made of natural wood. Please feel the comfortability of natural wood with your five sense.

Lacquerware bowls with miso soup and other meals on dinner table

Easy for beginners! How to care Japanese lacquer bowls

“I wonder how I should care Japanese lacquer bowls.”
Some may think so. However, do not worry. In fact, care of lacquerware bowls is easy.

Basically, you can clean and wash Japanese lacquer bowls as same way as usual tableware.
Please note that you cannot use dishwasher or dish dryer. Also, do not soak lacquerware bowls into water for a long time.

Wash the bowls with lukewarm water (if possible) and wipe them with soft cloth. Please wipe lacquer bowls gently. If the bowl gets oily stain, you can wash bowls with neutral detergent dissolved in lukewarm water.
When finger prints are remarkable, breathe on the surface and wipe there with soft cloth.

But lacquer bowls are weak against ultraviolet rays or dryness. Please do not leave Japanese lacquer bowls under direct sunlight or extremely dry condition.
Use, wash, wipe gently, and store in cupboard every day. The best care for Japanese lacquerware bowls is using them every day.

Like wooden bowls? How about Meibokuwan?

If you like wooden bowls with beautiful wood grain, we recommend “Meibokuwan Beech” from Sonobe for you. Gently rounded form eases us. Wrap with your hands and eat warm soup. This is especially popular for rewards for yourself and gifts for dearest people.

Meibokuwan with soup and wooden china spoon from Sonobe

“Meibokuwan Beech” is made of natural beech wood. beech is characterized by uniform wood grain and smooth texture. Natural color and beautiful wood grain suit any types of meals. You can also use it as café au lait bowl. Natural wooden bowl is good for Northern European furniture or tableware.

Stylish wooden soup bowl “Meibokuwan” has 3 sizes, S, M, L. If you look for bowls for children, we recommend S bowl. Meibokuwan is not lacquered but coated with urethane.

3 sizes of Meibokuwan and a woman touches bowls on both sides
From left to right, S / M / L


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Lacquered chopsticks or Jubako boxes in addition to bowls

For those who look for Japanese lacquer bowls, we also recommend lacquered chopsticks, sake cups or Jubako box. Among them, lacquered chopsticks are good tableware to start life with lacquerware. 2 pairs of chopsticks have been popular wedding gifts.
If you are interested in stylish lacquerware, please see our special featured page of lacquerware.

3 sets of lacquered 2 pairs of chopsticks



Send Japanese lacquer bowls as gifts? Leave it to Japan Design Store

Lacquerware is one of the representative traditional crafts in Japan. How about sending stylish lacquer bowls for your important people?
Pair Japanese lacquer bowls would be great wedding gifts. Also, it is good for housewarming gifts, anniversary gifts, longevity gifts or birthday gifts. Japanese craftsmen carefully handmade Japanese lacquer bowls. The bowls tell your “Thank you” or “Congratulation.”

Japanese lacquer bowl WAN from amabro and its exclusive paulownia box with Easy wrapping
Image of Easy wrapping

If you would like to send lacquerware bowls as gifts, please leave it to Japan Design Store. We offer stylish various gift wrapping. Japanese modern wrapping with Mizuhiki have been popular.

Examples of gift wrappings of Japan Design Store
* Boxes differ from item to item
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