The Show Room, Bamboo Vocational School

The Bamboo vocational arts training center is in Oita, the Southern part of Japan. It was decided to establish the school in that part of Japan and make Oita the bamboo capital of Japan because of the demand for bamboo baskets by visitors to the hotsprings. It started...

Tanabe Chikuunsai iv studio visit part 2

After a morning looking at Tanabe-san’s families artwork we had a lovely lunch at a nearby restaurant. During a tour of the teahouse in the back of the restaurant I learned that Osaka was actually the birthplace of Japanese tea ceremony. I also learned that we...
A studio visit with Tanabe Chikuunsai IV

A studio visit with Tanabe Chikuunsai IV

  This morning found me riding in a taxi with crocheted seat covers, which appealed to the fiber artist in me. After the white gloved driver dropped us off, I found myself at the door of a stately house in Osaka. There was a great variegated bamboo at the front,...
Weaving a basket with Morgami Jin, Part 3

Weaving a basket with Morgami Jin, Part 3

I felt very grateful to be able to spend a day with Morgami Jin and his family, visiting a bamboo factory, splitting bamboo, and having dinner. It was such a great surprise to find I also was going to get to spend a day with him weaving a basket. His work had already...