Peernovo
Other product manufacturing and processing workers (except metal products)

How to become a Lacquerware Maker

Also called: Lacquer craftsperson, Lacquerware decorator, Lacquerware worker

Makes lacquerware such as tableware, craft items, furniture and furnishings, and Buddhist altar items.

How to become one

No particular education or qualification is required to start. It is useful to learn the basics of woodworking, the properties of lacquer, coating and design. It is an advantage to have studied at a school where you can learn practical lacquer skills, such as a vocational training school or a technical high school with a lacquer arts course. In most cases, people finish high school or similar, work as an apprentice for 4 to 5 years in a small family-run workshop, learn each kind of work (base making, coating and decoration) and then set up on their own. In some production areas there are institutes and training centres where you can improve your skills while working. Even in areas without such facilities, training successors has become a priority in recent years and training is given in various ways. If you want to set up on your own in particular, broad knowledge of every stage is important. People who go independent take various paths: some aim to become lacquer artists through exhibitions, while others expand their sales while making mass-produced goods. A related qualification is traditional craftsperson, run by the Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries. Most of the work is fine handwork, so people who love making things and have good hand skills are needed. If you aim to become a lacquer artist you need artistic sense, and if you aim to make and sell lacquerware yourself you also need business sense.

Pay · Job openings · AI and this job

Related jobs

Not sure this is for you? Take the 2-minute career quiz

Questions people ask

How do I become a Lacquerware Maker?

No particular education or qualification is required to start. It is useful to learn the basics of woodworking, the properties of lacquer, coating and design. It is an advantage to have studied at a school where you can learn practical lacquer skills, such as a vocational training school or a technical high school with a lacquer arts course. In most cases, people finish high school or similar, work as an apprentice for 4 to 5 years in a small family-run workshop, learn each kind of work (base making, coating and decoration) and then set up on their own. In some production areas there are institutes and training centres where you can improve your skills while working. Even in areas without such facilities, training successors has become a priority in recent years and training is given in various ways. If you want to set up on your own in particular, broad knowledge of every stage is important. People who go independent take various paths: some aim to become lacquer artists through exhibitions, while others expand their sales while making mass-produced goods. A related qualification is traditional craftsperson, run by the Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries. Most of the work is fine handwork, so people who love making things and have good hand skills are needed. If you aim to become a lacquer artist you need artistic sense, and if you aim to make and sell lacquerware yourself you also need business sense.

How much does a Lacquerware Maker earn in Japan?

Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥4,105,900 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Other product manufacturing and processing workers (except metal products), which covers several jobs.

Do you need a degree to become a Lacquerware Maker?

Usually not. In this job's census occupation group, only 19% of workers are university graduates.

Will AI change the work of a Lacquerware Maker?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.

Updated 4 October 2026