Master Craftsmen's Bamboo Baskets: Supervised by Masamitsu Saito

• This exhibition is by appointment only.

　Please call or email to make an appointment in advance.
　 03-5159-0599 / tokyo@ippodogallery.com
　(Opening hours: 11:00 - 18:00　Closed: Monday)

Japan is dotted with beautiful bamboo groves, as described in the Kojiki and Taketori Monogatari.

Bamboo baskets have long been used as a familiar tool in Japan, but in the Edo period they also came to be treated as works of art.

Meiji period Japanese bamboo crafts came into the limelight at the World Expositions in Europe.

Beginning as tools, they became a magnificent art craft, a mixture of the culture, skill and aesthetics of the craftsmen of that era, and their popularity continues to this day, along with the tributes they have received abroad.

Masamitsu Saito is one of the world's leading collectors of bamboo baskets and has supervised exhibitions of bamboo baskets at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, and his Bamboo Art has become a worldwide phenomenon.

He is also a collector of masterpieces of bamboo baskets, including Iizuka Rokansai's.

This time, Ippodo Club will be showcasing 35 of the finest bamboo baskets.