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Inspiration – Japanese Traditional Craft Exhibition

tokyo craft show 8 sided jindai sugi box

A couple weeks back we took a visit to the 69th Japanese Traditional Craft Exhibition, and I thought I share some inspirational highlights from the show. The show encompassed several different areas; metalwork, ceramics, kimono, glassware, lacquerware, bamboo weaving, woodwork, and traditional dolls. I didn’t take pictures of every field, as I was mostly drawn to the ceramics, bamboo, and woodwork, but essentially everything on display was stunning. It feels rare to see craft of this level nowadays. With most of these pieces, you could tell that the work involved months and months of effort. I find that level of devotion and patience mind blowing, and I desperately wanted to be able to pick things up and inspect them closer.

It’s incredible to see the culmination of skill and knowledge that goes into making objects like these. And it’s incredible that people are still doing this work. I always end up finding inspiration in the actual aesthetics and forms of the pieces themselves, but also seeing this level of work makes me want to do better in my own work.

Rather than write in detail on the individual pieces, I thought I’d mostly just present the images below, but feel free to comment if you have any questions/thoughts/ideas related to any of the work pictured.

I hope you enjoy the highlights.

Ceramics

First up are a selection of ceramic pieces. One thing that blew me away was the scale of some of these vessels and bowls. They are massive!

tokyo craft show ceramic bowl
tokyo craft show kyusu
tokyo craft show urushi box
tokyo craft show herringbone pattern bowl
tokyo craft show striped vessel
tokyo craft show large shallow bowl
tokyo craft show bowl size
tokyo craft show large bowl

Bamboo Weaving

Form and pattern are the things that I’m personally drawn to with Japanese bamboo work. Kumiko, as a craft, has really taken off amongst woodworkers over the past few years in the West, and in terms of pattern I think there’s a lot shared with bamboo work. But there’s a whole other level of pattern and layering possible with bamboo weaving, particularly when it comes to creating patterns on curved surfaces.

tokyo craft show bamboo basket

Woodwork

Last but not least, the woodwork part of the show. Something that surprised me with these pieces (mostly boxes) was the heavy use of inlay and marquetry. That is an aspect of traditional woodwork here in Japan that has eluded me up to this point. I’ve rarely seen this level of inlay work outside of handmade instruments like guitars, etc. Anyone who has any experience or knowledge of instrument making is aware of the difficulty of doing inlay and stringing in soft wood, which many of these pieces were. (Many of the pieces used jindai sugi, which is incredibly expensive and rare Japanese red cedar that has been unearthed after being buried for a long period of time, taking on a brownish/gray color.)

tokyo craft show 7 sided box
tokyo craft show jindai sugi box
tokyo craft show jindai elm box
tokyo craft show jindai elm box detail
tokyo craft show 8 sided jindai sugi box
tokyo craft show 12 sided jindai sugi box
tokyo craft show silver inlay box
tokyo craft show maple box
tokyo craft show chesnut and keyaki box
tokyo craft show maple and persimmon box
tokyo craft show maple and persimmon box scallop detail
tokyo craft show stacked urushi trays
tokyo craft show persimmon wood box
tokyo craft show keyaki box

「Inspiration – Japanese Traditional Craft Exhibition」への8件のフィードバック

    1. Indeed. I would love to watch the process of making some of the wooden boxes. There are a few pieces here that really have me wondering as to the construction, and what’s going on inside.

  1. I love the ceramics and if I was purchasing would lean towards the first vase. Love it!
    Then the woodwork; impressed with them all. I wonder if some are marketed as Urns. Beautiful keepsake pieces.

    1. Yeah the ceramic vases were really nice. I’ve never seen anything quite as big as them in the US. They’re around the size of some of those old Red Wing Pottery crocks. I don’t think the wooden boxes are used as urns, but to be honest I’m not 100% sure what they’re intended purpose may be. Some were listed as letter boxes, others make-up boxes, and some were simply labeled as generic boxes. I think to a certain extent they are forms that had a specific purpose once upon a time, but now those forms are mostly just the basis for each craftsperson’s personal expression/vision.

  2. Thanks for sharing these images, the likes of which would rarely be seen in one place outside large cities like Tokyo. The works are exquisite and, as you say, inspire us to lift my sights.

    1. Thanks for the comment Keith, I’m glad you enjoyed this post. You’ll have to time your next trip to Japan to coincide with next years exhibition 😉

  3. Thanks for these, Jon. Great photography as usual. I saw some Japanese bamboo weaving a few years ago at a gallery in Santa Fe and was completely entranced. Those boxes you showed are simply unreal.

    1. Hey Gary, I’ve been watching a few Japanese bamboo weaving videos on Youtube and it’s really amazing to see the process in action. Everything from the processing of bamboo from the forest into workable strips to weaving the pattern itself clearly requires so much skill and knowledge, yet as usual the people doing the work make it look easy 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the pictures!

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