Ki-urushi

Raw urushi lacquer. Used for preparation and base layers, mixing with clay, mixing with bengara (e-urushi) and many other uses (some below).
Highest quality raw lacquers are kijomi-urushi or uwazuri-urushi – used in uwazuri, final stage of roiro.
Raw urushi sap is filtered and slightly reduced in water content to make it usable as lacquer. There are different types of ki urushi depending on the origins of the tree as well as the season that the tree was tapped.
Hatsugama (also hatsu urushi), collected early summer, has a high water content in the emulsion and has a high adhesive potential. It is used for adhesive mixtures and for suri-urushi (fuki-urushi).
Sakari-urushi, collected late summer, is used for processing into kuro-urushi and suki-urushi.
Oso-urushi is collected early fall and urame and tome urushi is collected at the end of the season in late fall prior to cutting down the tree.
Eda and seshime were traditionally collected from the branches during the winter after the tree was cut down.