What Kakuman Shikki is known for
Kakuman traces to the prewar Kadena Lacquerware Shop and is called Okinawa's oldest Ryukyu lacquerware shop, with over 120 years of history. It sells lacquered tableware, boxes and incense containers, plus a lacquer jewelry line, Nui Mun, from its Shuri workshop.
Kakuman's lineage runs back to the Kadena Lacquerware Shop, established in Naha's Wakasa-cho before the Second World War; after the war the business was reorganized and continued under the Kakuman name. On that basis the shop markets itself, and is described in independent local coverage, as the oldest continuously operating Ryukyu lacquerware retailer in Naha, with a history now put at over 120 years.
The current shop sits in Naha's Shuri Yamakawa-cho district and sells everyday and decorative Ryukyu lacquerware: chopsticks, soup bowls, sake cups and plates for the table, plus lacquered boxes, mirrors, incense containers and serving trays for the home. It has also developed a lacquer accessories line, Nui Mun, applying the same urushi techniques to jewelry rather than tableware.
Kakuman highlights Okinawa's warm, humid climate as well suited to curing lacquer, a condition tied to techniques it says were passed down from the Ryukyu Kingdom era. Alongside retail, the shop runs a cafe on site, offers workshop experiences and factory tours, and produces corporate gifts and memorial pieces.
How ORBIS reads this city
Best for — Ryukyu lacquerware tableware, boxes and Nui Mun lacquer jewelry
More in Naha
- Ryukyu Piras Ukishima-dori Store — Naha
- MIMURI — Naha
- GARB DOMINGO — Naha
- Ikutoen Pottery Works — Naha
- Shuri Ryusen — Naha
- Chinen Bingata Laboratory — Naha
- Uehara Meat Ichibamae Honten — Naha
- Naha City First Makishi Public Market — Naha
Where next
- Shoutaro — Shiojiri
- Bagan House Artistic Lacquerware — Myanmar
- GARB DOMINGO — Naha
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