Blood of plants

The price of Kintsugi

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用漆來修補幾隻破爛了的碗碟,手足便因為不小心踫到漆而生起皮膚炎了。開始時只有左手的手腕上紅了一塊,長了幾個水泡,心知大事不妙,趕緊去看醫生拿藥膚,然而,沒過幾天,皮膚炎還是蔓延至雙手的前臂,再蔓延至腿上、頸後。

因漆而生的皮膚炎特別難纏,太癢了不經常一抓,再踫到身體其他位置,就傳染過去了。就算強忍著,不抓不踫,它們還是會隨汗水繞你全身,找地方攻擊你。雖然難受,但因為已是第三次感染,心裡知道只要忍受兩個月,皮膚炎便會自然痊癒。想到這,心就闊了。人對災難的適應能力真強,只要多發生幾次,便對自己的遭遇若無其事了。

日本在繩文時代,亦即是公元一萬多年前,就使用漆來修理器物。至室町時代(公元1336年- 1573年),千利休推行侘茶,人們開始欣賞破損器物的美,以漆作為主要素材的金繼,便由尋常的修補技術,漸漸轉化為重視美感表達的工藝。究竟在一萬多年前,人們是怎樣發㺺漆天然物料,能作為接合劑呢?真是奇妙。

說到漆,其實是一種漆樹的汁液,當漆樹的表面受傷,便會分泌出汁液來保補傷口。漆就像是人類的血與血小板一樣,接觸到空氣後,會慢慢地凝固。人們為了得到漆,不斷在漆樹上製造傷口,要漆樹不斷地流血。

看著那幾個還未有補好的碗碟,看著自己紅斑駁駁的一雙臂。萬物都有因果,以他人的血來成全自己,不付出代價實在太沒道理了。㾗癢,算是很便宜的代價吧。

I recently got dermatitis after accidentally touching lacquer when fixing a couple of broken tableware. In the beginning, it was just a rash and some blisters on my left wrist. I was already worried about this, so I went to the doctor right away to get some dermatologic drugs. Instead of recovering, the rash just spread and began to affect both of my arms, my legs and the back of my neck.

Dermatitis caused by lacquer is very tricky — when you can no longer resist the itchiness and scratch the rash, the residue in your fingernails can easily affect other parts of your body once you touch them. Let’s say you are strong enough to endure the itchiness, the bacteria can still reach any part of your body through sweat. It was my third time to get affected, so I knew this torture of dermatitis would naturally fade away in two months. This thought actually made me less anxious. Human beings really have an excellent capacity to adapt to adverse situations. We can quickly get used to adversity when it has become a pattern. 

Lacquer has been used by the Japanese to mend things ever since the Jōmon period (c. 14,000–300 BCE). Moving on to the Muromachi period (1336 to 1573), thanks to Wabi-cha (a style of tea ceremony) advocated by Sen no Rikyū, the general public began to appreciate the beauty of broken ware. Kintsugi (golden joinery) has become a popular and classy method of repairing broken porcelain. How did people from over ten thousand years ago get to find out lacquer is a natural material that can be used as glue? I find this absolutely fascinating.

Lacquer is the resin of lacquer trees. Resin is a natural protective response of the tree when it gets injured. It has a similar function as platelet of the human body. Once the resin is exposed to the air, it would gradually get dry. To obtain resin, people would purposely create a wound on the surface of the lacquer tree to let it keep “bleeding”.
 
Looking at the tableware that are only halfway through getting amended, and how my arms are full of rashes, all of a sudden, I realized everything has a consequence. It would be so unfair if I could obtain the “blood” of the tree without having any sacrifice myself. Itchiness is perhaps a relatively small price to pay.

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