{"id":1703,"date":"2025-08-10T06:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=1703"},"modified":"2025-08-10T06:00:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T13:00:22","slug":"century-old-japanese-lacquerware-company-picks-pikachu-for-line-of-high-class-pokemon-tableware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=1703","title":{"rendered":"Century-old Japanese lacquerware company picks Pikachu for line of high-class Pok\u00e9mon tableware"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709220\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-1.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"391\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Traditional and moder symbols of Japanese are combine for beautiful and adorable lineup<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The traditions of Japanese <strong>lacquerware<\/strong> are said to stretch back millennia, and it\u2019s widely recognized as one of the country\u2019s representative artforms. By comparison, the <strong>Pok\u00e9mon<\/strong> franchise has a much shorter history, but after three decades of phenomenal popularity, the creature designs of <strong>Pikachu<\/strong> and his pals have also become, in their own way, icons of Japanese aesthetic sense as well.<\/p>\n<p>And as further proof of the legitimacy of both these classical and modern symbols of Japan, Tokyo lacquerware company <strong>Yamada Heiando, which has been crafting beautiful pieces for over a century, has created a line of Pok\u00e9mon lacquerware<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709221\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-2.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Each piece\u2019s lacquer and Pocket Monster imagery is applied by hand by one of Yamada Heiando\u2019s experienced artisans<\/strong>, and if you\u2019re wondering how they get the Pok\u00e9mon to shine so brightly, it\u2019s because the illustrations aren\u2019t stick-on decals or simple paint. Instead, Yamada Heiando uses a technique called <strong>maki-e<\/strong>, in which <strong>metallic powder is applied to the lacquer while it\u2019s still wet, meaning that the artist has to be not only precise, but fast too, since the powdering needs to be finished before the resin dries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709222\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-3.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709223\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-4.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"464\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u25bc A video showing the production process for the Pok\u00e9mon lacquerware<\/p>\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709224\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-5.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Yamada Heiando offers <strong>two types of Pok\u00e9mon tableware<\/strong>, with the first being a<strong> small bowl<\/strong>, or <strong>\u201ckowan,\u201d<\/strong> as the company designates it in Japanese. These have a diameter of 10 centimeters (3.9 inches), and the initial lineup consisted of <strong>Pikachu<\/strong>, <strong>Dragonite<\/strong>, and <strong>Arbok<\/strong>, each available in either black or vermillion.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709225\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-6.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"516\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As of this month, they\u2019re joined by an <strong>Arbok<\/strong> version too.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709226\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-7.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, if you want something a little more substantial, there\u2019s also a new <strong>Pikachu soup bowl<\/strong> (<strong>\u201cshiruwan\u201d<\/strong>), which measures 11 centimeters across. Really, you can use this for holding things other than soup, but with all of Yamada Heiando\u2019s Pok\u00e9mon pieces being made from natural wood, they do a great job of keeping their outside surface relatively cool even when their contents are piping hot, so they really are especially suited for miso soup and the like.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709227\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-8.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>More maki-e artistry can be found on the bottom of the bowls, which bare the <em>Pok\u00e9mon<\/em> logo<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709228\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-9.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u2026<strong>and you can also have the pieces customized with your name written in maki-e too<\/strong>, although it\u2019s unclear if Latin alphabet lettering is an option or not.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709229\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-10.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709230\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-11.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"447\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The small bowls each come <strong>bundled with a lacquerware spoon<\/strong> and are priced at 17,600 yen (US$120), while the larger Pikachu soup bowl is 24.200 yen.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-709231\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/PL-12.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Both bowls can be purchased through the Yamada Heiando online store (small bowls <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yamada-heiando.jp\/c\/pokemon\/etokowan\">here<\/a>, soup bowl <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yamada-heiando.jp\/c\/pokemon\/etoshiruwan\">here<\/a>). And if your favorite Pok\u00e9mon isn\u2019t one of these four, don\u2019t worry, as Yamada Heiando says the plan is to add even more species at a later date.<\/p>\n<p><em>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/prtimes.jp\/main\/html\/rd\/p\/000000002.000154338.html\">PR Times<\/a><\/em><br \/>\n<em>Top image: PR Times<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Insert images: PR Times, Yamada Heiando (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yamada-heiando.jp\/c\/pokemon\/etokowan\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yamada-heiando.jp\/c\/pokemon\/etoshiruwan\">2<\/a>)<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u25cf Want to hear about SoraNews24\u2019s latest articles as soon as they\u2019re published? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RocketNews24En\">Follow us on Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RocketNews24En\">Twitter<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Traditional and moder symbols of Japanese are combine for beautiful and adorable lineup. The traditions of Japanese lacquerware are said to stretch back millennia, and it\u2019s widely recognized as one&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}