![Nara Shikki Raden Lacquer Tray: Mother-of-Pearl Yamato Lacquerware, Where to Buy [2026]](https://jpmono.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/nara-shikki-raden-lacquer-tray-where-to-buy-2026-featured.jpg)
Nara Shikki (奈良漆器, “Nara lacquerware”) is the lacquer tradition of Japan’s first permanent capital, and its signature is raden (螺鈿, “mother-of-pearl inlay”) — thin slices of abalone and turban shell set into deep black urushi so that the surface shifts between ink and iridescence as it catches the light. This particular piece is a hand-lacquered obon (お盆, “tray”), the everyday vessel a Japanese household reaches for to carry tea, sweets, or a single guest’s serving from kitchen to room.
What makes Nara unusual is not the technique alone but where it sits in time. The raden method entered Japan during the Nara period through Tang-dynasty imports, many of which still survive a few kilometers from the city center, inside the Shōsō-in repository at Tōdai-ji. Nara is, in a real sense, a wellspring of East Asian shell-inlay art — not a place that copied the style later, but one of the rooms where it first landed on the archipelago. The craft was nurtured by the temple workshops of the old capital, then revived and codified as a named regional craft in the Edo period.
This guide is written for an international reader deciding whether a Nara Shikki raden tray belongs in their home, and whether it is worth sourcing from Japan. We cover what the technique actually is, how the tray compares to other Japanese lacquer objects already reviewed on this site, where to buy it from outside Japan, and who should pass on it. It is the first Nara lacquer entry on jpmono.com — and Nara is the home-base prefecture for half of our editorial team, so we have taken our time with the history.
🔄 Last updated:
⏱️ Read time: about 11 minutes
![Nara Shikki Raden Lacquer Tray: Mother-of-Pearl Yamato Lacquerware, Where to Buy [2026]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41uKAagz+aL._SL500_.jpg)
- Who this is for — and who should skip it
- Product overview (from published specs)
- Which finish should you choose?
- Price snapshot across stores
- What it does well
- Weaknesses and things to verify before buying
- Conclusion — which buyer type are you?
- Other ways to approach this purchase
- Where this comes from
- 📦 Shipping & where to buy from outside Japan
- 🏆 Editor’s Pick
- ❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Who this is for — and who should skip it
- Want a small heirloom-grade object with documented craft lineage, not mass-produced décor
- Appreciate raden mother-of-pearl and the way it shifts color under changing light
- Are building a collection of regional Japanese lacquer and want a Nara / Kansai entry
- Will use a tray for tea service, sweets, or a small display, and will care for it by hand
- Are comfortable buying internationally from the Amazon JP Global Store
- Want something dishwasher-safe and microwave-safe for daily heavy use
- Need a guaranteed price and fast Prime-style delivery from a US warehouse
- Dislike hand-wash-only objects, or live somewhere very dry that stresses urushi
- Expect exact dimensions and stock confirmed before ordering (data here is thin — see caveats)
- Are shopping purely on price; genuine raden work is not inexpensive
Product overview (from published specs)
Source data for this specific listing was limited at the time of writing. Only the Amazon JP catalog reference (ASIN B07QSRNVFP) was available; the structured spec feed returned no dimensions, weight, or live price. The table below states only what can be sourced; unconfirmed fields are marked plainly rather than guessed.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Craft | Nara Shikki (奈良漆器), Yamato lacquerware |
| Defining technique | Raden (螺鈿) — abalone / turban-shell mother-of-pearl inlay |
| Object type | Obon (お盆) — serving / display tray |
| Surface | Hand-applied black urushi (漆, natural lacquer) over a wood base, shell set into the field |
| Origin | Nara Prefecture, Kansai region, Japan |
| Dimensions / weight | Unconfirmed — check the live listing |
| Care | Hand wash, soft cloth; not dishwasher / microwave safe (standard for urushi) |
| Reference ID | Amazon JP ASIN B07QSRNVFP |
Sources: Amazon US search (primary, tag moonill-20) · Amazon JP Global Store (secondary, tag moonill-22, sourced listing) · maker-direct where available. Specs not present in source data are not invented.
📖 Glossary — key terms in this article
- Urushi (漆) — natural lacquer tapped from the urushi tree; cured in humidity, it forms a hard, water-resistant surface.
- Raden (螺鈿) — inlay of thin mother-of-pearl (abalone, turban shell) cut to shape and set into the lacquer field.
- Nara Shikki (奈良漆器) — the lacquerware tradition of Nara; shikki simply means “lacquerware.”
- Shōsō-in (正倉院) — the 8th-century imperial repository at Tōdai-ji holding court treasures, including Tang-era raden lacquer.
- Kanshitsu (乾漆) — “dry lacquer,” a hollow lacquer-and-cloth sculpture technique used for Buddhist statues in Nara.
- Obon (お盆) — a flat serving tray; the everyday Japanese vessel for carrying tea and food.
- Heijō-kyō (平城京) — the grid-planned capital city that occupied Nara from 710 to 784.
Which finish should you choose?
This piece is listed in 2 finishes. The photos below are the actual 色 options on the listing right now — pick the one you want and confirm it on the product page before ordering, since hand-finished wares vary slightly piece to piece.
![Nara Shikki Raden Lacquer Tray: Mother-of-Pearl Yamato Lacquerware, Where to Buy [2026] — 朱色 梅 finish](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/312BI9dVolL._SL500_.jpg)
Price snapshot across stores
Live pricing for ASIN B07QSRNVFP was unavailable in our source data at the time of writing. The JPY price is the authoritative figure once confirmed on the listing; any USD figure is an estimate at a ¥150/USD baseline (mid-2026) and depends on the current exchange rate.
| Store | Item / variant | Price (JPY + USD est.) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Amazon.com (US) | Browse Japanese lacquerware & raden trays | varies (USD) | Best if you’re shopping from the US — Prime shipping, USD pricing, no international customs. Amazon US carries Japanese lacquer trays and bowls from various makers, useful for comparing styles and price tiers. This exact Nara Shikki piece is sourced from Japan (next row). |
| 🇯🇵 Amazon JP Global Store | Nara Shikki raden obon (ASIN B07QSRNVFP) | Not listed at time of writing — check listing | Ships internationally from Japan. This is the sourced listing for the specific tray. |
| Maker direct | Nara lacquer workshops / galleries | varies | Some Nara workshops sell by inquiry; most do not ship abroad directly. Confirm before ordering. |
| Proxy services (Buyee / Tenso) | Japan-only listings forwarded abroad | item price + forwarding fee | Useful if the item shows as Japan-only; adds a handling fee and a consolidation step. |
Prices and stock fluctuate; the affiliate links above carry current figures. USD estimates use a ¥150/USD baseline and are approximate.
What it does well
The raden shell shifts between blue, green, and silver as the tray moves under a lamp or window — a quieter effect than gold, and harder to reproduce in print.
The technique traces to Tang imports preserved in the Shōsō-in at Tōdai-ji — Nara’s claim to raden is among the oldest in Japan, not a later adoption.
Urushi is applied and cured by hand; shell is cut and set individually, so each tray’s grain and inlay placement is slightly different.
A tray is a low-commitment way into Japanese lacquer — useful immediately, easy to ship, and a recognizable craft object as a gift.
Weaknesses and things to verify before buying
- Thin source data. Dimensions, weight, and live price were not in our feed for ASIN B07QSRNVFP. Confirm size and price on the listing — a “tray” can mean anything from a coaster-sized piece to a large obon.
- Hand-wash only. Urushi is not dishwasher- or microwave-safe, and prolonged soaking or abrasive scrubbing will dull both the lacquer and the shell.
- Sensitive to dry air and direct sun. Lacquer prefers stable humidity; very dry indoor heating or strong UV can, over years, stress the surface. Keep it out of direct sunlight.
- Piece-to-piece variation. Shell placement is not identical between units, so the tray you receive may differ from the catalog photo. This is inherent to raden, not a defect.
- International shipping and customs. The JP Global Store ships abroad, but delivery time, shipping cost, and any import duty above your local threshold are on the buyer. Budget extra time and cost.
- Not a bargain object. Genuine raden work carries a craft premium. If price is the deciding factor, a plain lacquer tray (no inlay) will cost considerably less.
Conclusion — which buyer type are you?
You want documented craft heritage and the raden surface specifically. Buy the Nara Shikki tray, and confirm dimensions before ordering.
You like Japanese lacquer but want flexibility. Compare this against the Takaoka aogai raden box and a plain lacquer tray before deciding.
Raden is not the value pick. Consider Kawatsura or Aizu lacquer bowls — everyday lacquer at a friendlier price — instead.
You need dishwasher-safe, low-maintenance servingware delivered fast and cheap. This is the wrong object for you.
Other ways to approach this purchase
Craft lacquer rarely discounts steeply, but the JP Global Store occasionally runs promotions. If you’re not in a hurry, watch the listing.
Older raden trays surface on Japanese resale platforms (reachable via proxy services). Inspect condition photos closely — shell can lift with age.
If you buy via Amazon, stacking card points or Amazon rewards offsets part of the international shipping cost.
If you want the lacquer look without the raden premium, a plain black or vermilion lacquer tray delivers the form at lower cost.
Where this comes from
Nara lies in the Nara Basin of the Kansai region, an inland plain ringed by low mountains in west-central Japan. It is the seat of Nara Prefecture and, for international orientation, sits roughly 40 km south of Kyoto and about 370 km west of Tokyo — close enough to Osaka and Kyoto that all three were, at different points, centers of the imperial court. The basin’s settled, temple-dense landscape is the reason craft workshops took root here: religious patronage, not a port or a raw-material deposit, seeded the lacquer trade.
Nara served as Japan’s capital from 710 to 784, the era historians call the Nara period, when the court laid out the grid city of Heijō-kyō and gathered artisans — bronze-casters, paper-makers, and lacquer workers — into permanent workshops for the first time. It was during these decades that raden inlay arrived as part of a flood of Tang-dynasty imports, and Nara became one of the first places in Japan where shell-inlaid lacquer was seen, used, and stored.
- 710 — The capital moves to Heijō-kyō (Nara); the court concentrates craft workshops in the city.
- 752 — The Great Buddha (Daibutsu) of Tōdai-ji is consecrated; temple workshops and lacquer art flourish.
- 756 — Court treasures, including Tang-era raden lacquer, begin to be held in the Shōsō-in repository.
- 784 — The capital relocates (and in 794 to Heian-kyō / Kyoto); Nara remains a great temple city.
- 17th–19th c. — Nara Shikki is revived and codified as a named regional craft during the Edo period.
- Today — A small number of Nara workshops continue raden inlay by hand alongside dry-lacquer restoration work.
The Shōsō-in is the key to Nara’s standing in lacquer history. The 8th-century imperial repository at Tōdai-ji has preserved court objects — among them raden lacquer pieces of Tang-dynasty origin — for more than twelve hundred years, an almost unbroken material record of early East Asian shell-inlay art. Because those objects survived in Nara, the city is less a regional production center than a source spring: a place where the raden vocabulary was first received and later studied.
“The raden objects in the Shōsō-in have outlasted the capital that received them — Nara stopped being the seat of power in 784, but the shell-inlaid lacquer it inherited is still here, twelve centuries on.”
Alongside raden, the temple workshops of the old capital developed kanshitsu (乾漆, “dry lacquer”), the hollow lacquer-and-cloth method used to build Buddhist sculptures — further evidence that Nara’s lacquer culture grew out of religious commission rather than commerce. The continuity case for Nara Shikki today is modest and honest: a small group of workshops carries the named craft forward, much of their skill anchored in conservation and reproduction of the very treasures the Shōsō-in holds. This is not a high-volume industry, and a buyer should treat each tray as a workshop piece rather than a catalog commodity.
📦 Shipping & where to buy from outside Japan
The specific tray is sourced from the Amazon JP Global Store (ASIN B07QSRNVFP), which ships internationally to most major destinations. International shipping on a small lacquer tray typically runs in the $15–$40 range to the US and EU, and higher to other regions; delivery often takes one to two weeks. Orders above your country’s de minimis threshold may attract import duty or VAT, which is the buyer’s responsibility.
If the listing ever shows as Japan-only, a proxy / forwarding service (Buyee or Tenso) can purchase the item domestically in Japan and re-ship it to you, adding a handling fee. For US-based readers who would rather avoid customs entirely, the Amazon.com search link in the price snapshot surfaces comparable Japanese lacquer trays held in US warehouses — a different object from this exact Nara Shikki piece, but faster and duty-free.
🏆 Editor’s Pick
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is raden, exactly?
Raden (螺鈿) is mother-of-pearl inlay — thin slices of abalone or turban shell cut to shape and set into a lacquer surface. As the piece moves under light, the shell shifts between blue, green, and silver. On this tray, the shell is set into a black urushi field.
Why is Nara associated with lacquer and raden?
Nara was Japan’s capital from 710 to 794, when raden lacquer first arrived via Tang-dynasty imports. Many of those objects survive in the Shōsō-in repository at Tōdai-ji, making Nara one of the earliest places in Japan where shell-inlaid lacquer was received and preserved.
How do I care for it?
Hand wash with a soft cloth and mild soap, then dry promptly. Do not use a dishwasher or microwave, avoid prolonged soaking and abrasive scrubbing, and keep it out of direct sunlight and very dry, heated air.
Will it ship outside Japan?
Yes — the Amazon JP Global Store listing (ASIN B07QSRNVFP) ships internationally to most major destinations, typically $15–$40 to the US and EU. If a listing shows as Japan-only, a proxy service such as Buyee or Tenso can forward it. Import duty above your local threshold is the buyer’s responsibility.
How is it different from the Takaoka aogai raden box?
Both use shell inlay, but they’re different regions and object types: the Takaoka piece is a Toyama (Hokuriku) accessory box in the aogai blue-shell style, while this is a Nara (Kansai) serving tray. They represent the two major raden traditions on opposite coasts of central Japan.
Is each tray identical to the photo?
No. Because the shell is cut and set by hand, inlay placement and grain vary slightly from piece to piece. The tray you receive may differ a little from the catalog image — this is inherent to handmade raden, not a flaw.
Why doesn’t this article show a live price?
Our source data for this listing did not include a confirmed price at the time of writing, and we do not invent figures. The JPY price on the Amazon JP listing is the authoritative one — check it there before ordering.
jpmono.com is curated by a Japan-based editorial team (working out of Toyama in the Hokuriku region and Nara in Kansai) and is independent. We don’t take payment from the makers we feature; income comes from affiliate links. We focus on items with verifiable craft heritage and clear international shipping paths, and we read maker specs and source listings rather than physically testing every product.
🤖 This article was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed against the source listing data. Specifications and pricing reflect data available at the time of writing and should be confirmed on the retailer’s page before purchase.
Affiliate disclosure: jpmono.com may earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
