What shippaku means
Shippaku is the technique of fixing gold leaf with lacquer as the adhesive, giving the surface of an object, a statue or even a building a covering of gold. On a carved wooden Buddhist image the wood is usually covered with cloth, then with a ground of powdered clay or stone mixed with lacquer, which is smoothed; lacquer is applied over that and the gold leaf laid on it. The commentary on the seated Dainichi at Shuzenji in Shizuoka summarises the layers as cloth, a lacquer-and-clay ground and a lacquer-gilt finish. Buddhas are gilded all over because their bodies were said to shine with a golden light.
Other ways of producing a gold surface are recorded under different names. Kondei is powdered gold mixed with glue and applied like paint; the commentary on the thousand-armed Kannon of the Senjudo at Todaiji records this gold-paint finish. Kirikane lays thin strips of cut gold leaf in patterns, often over lacquer gilding or paint. Mekki is fire-gilding on metal, used for bronze statues, and is a different process from the lacquer gilding of wooden figures. Gold leaf as a material has its own entry, Kinpaku.
The technique was also used on architecture. The Konjikido of Chusonji is recorded as a hall coated with black lacquer and covered with gold leaf inside and out, down to the veranda and the eaves, one of very few buildings gilded in its entirety.
Reading the records and the surface
For statues, whether the gilding is original or later is one of the facts a commentary records with care. The seated Amida at Engyoji is described as covered in gilding of a later date, and on the Shuzenji Dainichi most of the present surface gilding is identified as replacement. Gilding wears easily and was renewed at many repairs, so the gold seen today may not be the gold applied when the statue was made.
Some statues are gilded only in part. On guardian figures, for example, lacquer gilding may be confined to the crown base and the edges of the armour while the rest is painted. Sandalwood images, by contrast, are normally left unpainted to show the fragrant wood and are not gilded at all.
On site, dark or brown patches in a gold surface usually mark places where the leaf has worn off and the lacquer beneath shows through, and the mellow tone of old gilded statues comes from the same wear. The pattern of loss can also help conservators work out the layers of ground and the number of regildings.
References
- 木造大日如来坐像（伊豆市）｜しずおか文化財ナビ
- https://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/kankosports/bunkageijutsu/bunkazai/1002825/1041003/1041884/1004957/1020740.html
- 木造阿弥陀如来坐像（円教寺）｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/197343
- 中尊寺金色堂｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/199039
- 厨子入／木造千手観音立像／木造四天王立像（戒壇院千手堂安置）｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/199046
- 木造四天王立像（海住山寺）｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/154721
Last verified: 2026.09.26