Wajima, Ishikawa

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The market in Wajima

Wajima (輪島市; -shi) is a city located in Ishikawa, Japan.

As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 25,818 and the density of 96.10 persons per km². The total area is 268.67 km².

The city was founded on March 31, 1954.

[edit] Notable facts

Wajima and its famous morning market were featured in the film Maborosi.

The town is famous throughout Japan for its lacquerware, called Wajima-nuri (輪島塗). There are artefacts showing lacquer was used to decorate and strengthen a shrine door from the 14th century. Wajima-nuri uses a technique that is unique to the area, mixing a finely powdered mineral, jinoko, with the lacquer in the early stages of production. Jinoko adds extra durability to Wajima-nuri items. The rougher, earlier layers are then coated with more layers of finer lacquer, which is then polished to a lustrous shine, and often decorated with designs made of gold and other precious materials. The lacquer tree was once abundant in the area, but is now scarce and most of the lacquer used is imported from China.