(a guidebook for special products, consisting of pictures and explanations for them)

As indicated by the fact that bamboo products have been excavated from Toro Ruins, a major ruins of the Yayoi period, bamboo has been used as a familiar craft since olden times.It is believed that Tokugawa Ieyasu, who loved hawk hunting, had bird feeders made of round strips of bamboo.This is said to be the origin of Suruga bamboo basketry.
It became instantly popular across the country and travelers who went by the Tokaido, including feudal lords who were required to reside in Edo periodically, called it Suruga basketry and purchased a lot as souvenirs.

The technique of the delicate use of round strips of bamboo that is a distinctive feature of Suruga bamboo basketry is said to have originated when Suganuma Ichiga, a feudal retainer of Okazaki Domain, who was remarkably good at flower arrangements, tea ceremony and poetry, taught it to Shimizu Ihee in 1840.

 

 

It was shown at the World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873 as a Japanese specialty. It has enjoyed a good reputation at various exhibitions outside Japan as well as at home. It has been exported widely and enjoyed in daily life.
In 1976, it was recognized as national traditional craftwork by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

The greatest feature of Suruga bamboo basketry is the handsome straight lines and elegant curves created by the unique traditional skills of bending and joining using fine round strips of bamboo that looks like they consist of one-thousand strips.
As bamboo has joints, the basketry is also popular as gifts to celebrate such life transitions as marriage, important birthdays, retirement and workplace transfers.
Bamboo basketry has been handed down through generations together with the persistent creative urge of predecessors and its product range has expanded to match modern living in the 21st century while maintaining bamboo’s unique texture, color and luster.

We will be more than happy if we can offer you a fulfilling time spent enjoying Japanese bamboo culture which we have enjoyed through the centuries.

Buying an insect cage, I headed for Susono. The poet Onitsura