Dear Customers & Freinds;

Hello from Japan! This is Antique Ichiroya News Letter.No.94th
Last week,I have seen one of the most breath taking art pieces in my life.
When you see any incredible pieces,or even places,persons,you just can not
move and keep staring them for hours.(of course,you feel like hours passed).
These pieces were beautiful bamboo baskets created by the greatest artisan,
Chikuunsai I.
It is impossible to describle them by words,but first amazing thing was sizes.
They come in much much larger than regular baskets,of course,with signed handsome wooden box and year of Taisho.
Secondary,they are almost in perfect condition.Bamboos are really fragile and most of them have some damages around corners and rims from age and use,but over 100 years old,they were prefectly kept which made them so special,too.
At last,of course,details are beyond description.
I have written about Japanese bamboo baskets history and skills before,but today,I would like to talk about basketry and related subject.

Chikuunsai Tanabe (1877-1937) was born in Amagasaki,Hyogo prefecture and started to get interested in bamboos since bamboo ware store was located near his house.
By the time when he was 12 years old,he became an apprentice to a basketry Waichisai Wada.Because he was better than anybody,he got the title of Chikuunsai at the age of 22.Eventually,he was involved in tea and flower,so
he moved to Sakai city,center of arts in Osaka.

There are more than 100 ways to weave bamboos and takes 10 to 20 years to learn how to weave Tanabe's which were inherited for generations.
First Chikuunsai created baskets using thick bamboos having strong influence from China which is still my favorite.Chikuunsai II created patterns called tortoiseshell and scale which emphasise detailed open works.
III created arrow shaped bamboo which is constructible and exteremly different from any artists.Now,Chikuunsai 4 is creating wonderful pieces and is highly motivated working internationally.
These exhibitions are taken place in USA where you can enjoy stunning Japanese basketry,so if you have time,it might be a good idea to see them in person!

August 9 to 20th at TAI Gallery.
http://textilearts.com/bamboo/

October 4th to January 11th at Japan Society Gallery, New York
http://www.japansociety.org/
(Actually,this place has wonderful exhibitions all thr.year)

At last,here below is a direct link to enjoy all Chikuunsai's arts in English.
http://www.chikuunsai.com/english/index.html

There are so many great traditional arts which were taken over for generations,but sadly,young children chose not to take over family business and beautiful arts are about to end now;however,Chikuunnsai is now 4th generation and I strongly hope they will keep creating fantastic pieces forever.

We do have wonderful artist Mr.Takae creating incredible bamboo pieces,so if you have not checked his great baskets yet,please enjoy it!

http://www.tourjartisan.com/tour/1/artifact.html

Tomorrow,we will list handsome armor dolls and woodblock prints,also beautiful kimonos, so please browse our sites if you have time!

Thank you for taking your valuable time to read my 94th
newsletters and we will get back to you soon!

Have a wonderful day.

Hisami Sato

Japanese antique Ichiroya
http://www.antiqueichiroya.com
e-mail: info@ichiroya.com
address: Asia-shoji Bldg.301
Wakamatsu cho
Tondabayashi city
Osaka 584-0025 JAPAN
TEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-544