Summer constellation, M57 of Lyra is 2,600 light-years from Earth. I, Shodo Yamagishi, love the ring nebula.

M57 is the last stage of a star in which the mass is almost equal to that of the sun. 5 billion years later, will our sun become such a figure, too?

I repeatedly painted colored lacquer to depict the beautiful nebula which gas was blown off. I polished it completely.

“Shin Shitsu” artwork I designed for Lyra “M57.”

“Shin Shitsu” is a technique to produce a work with “only 100% lacquer” from Japan and without using any wooden materials to construct its core. Again, wooden materials are not used. The work is completed by applying hundreds of layers of lacquer, drying, polishing, grounding, and designing.