owl toothpick box with traditional marquetry detail from Hakone

owl toothpick box with traditional marquetry detail from Hakone

Yosegi is a type of Japanese geometric patterned woodworking that originated in the Hakone mountains since the Edo period. Patterns are created using different colors of wood for each section. Common colors used in Yosegi patterns are white (spindle trees or llex macropoda), black (old Katsura), yellow (Picrasma quassioides, mulberry or sumac), brown (camphor and Amur maackia), purple (American black walnut), blue (Japanese cucumber) and red (Chinese cedar). The wood is cut into oblong rods before being glued to create the pattern, after which thin slices of the pattern are cut and glued onto the boxes. The boxes are then covered with a lacquer which gives them a shiny appearance and protects them.