'Makie' began in the Heian era. It was used to create important Buddhist and Shinto implements for the daily life of aristocrats and samurai families.By the Edo Period, the art of Makie became well known across Japanese society and Makie articles were used widely by the wealthy merchant and artisan classes.Over time, Makie artisans began to decorate lacquerware with gold and silver powder.

The decoration called Makie took advantage of another good quality of lacquerware, its stickiness. When artisans carved or inlaid designs into a piece of lacquerware and then sprinkled gold or silver powder onto the wet surface, these designs would become permanently affixed to the piece when it dried.
This is the art of Makie. Japanese people were highly skilled at this delicate work.