A Grass That Behaves Like Timber
Bamboo is technically a grass, yet it grows into hard, straight, hollow stems that can be split, bent, boiled and woven. In Japan several species are common, and the plant has long been woven into daily life: it serves as building material, scaffolding, water pipes, food and decoration. Craftspeople often name a few species with different strengths. Madake is a large, strong and straight species, popular for fine work. Mosochiku, usually called moso, is thick-walled and widely used, and it also supplies food in the form of spring shoots. Smaller species suit fencing, stakes and small objects.
One reason bamboo became such a favored craft material is its rate of growth. Stems typically reach full height within a season or two, though they need several years to harden for most crafts. Another reason is its structure: the fibers run lengthwise, so a stem splits cleanly along the grain. A skilled worker can divide a single node-to-node section into strips of very even width and thickness.
Preparing the Material
Raw bamboo is rarely used straight from the grove. Stems are typically cut in the cooler months, when the plant holds less sap and is less attractive to insects, then dried and sometimes treated. One traditional step is oil removal, in which the waxy film on the surface is gently heated and wiped away so that the stem takes on a pale, even tone. Other pieces are roasted or smoked, giving darker colors, and old smoke-stained bamboo from farmhouse rafters has long been prized for tea-room use.
For weaving, the stem is split lengthwise, then divided again, and finally planed into thin flat strips or shaved into round ones. The skill lies in uniformity: if one strip is thicker than its neighbors, the basket will show it.
Plaiting and the Shape of Baskets
Basketry is perhaps the most widely recognized bamboo skill. Several broad patterns appear again and again.
- Square or checkered weaving crosses strips over and under at right angles, giving a sturdy, simple basket.
- Hexagonal weaving, in which strips run in three directions to form open six-sided gaps, is light, strong and decorative.
- Twill-style diagonal weaving produces a dense, patterned surface.
- Coiled and twisted techniques build up rims and handles.
Each pattern balances openness, strength and appearance. A farm basket for carrying vegetables, a flat tray for drying food and a fine flower basket can all come from the same family of techniques, differing mainly in the quality of the strips and the care of the finishing. Rims are often bound with thin strips of bamboo or cane, and handles may be made from a thicker piece bent while warm.
Baskets used in tea and flower arranging have attracted especially refined work. Their makers sometimes sign the finished piece, and some baskets are now collected as art objects. The fine ones may look easy, yet they take years of practice to produce evenly.
Fences and the Garden
Bamboo is a common material in garden design. Fences, gates, screens and drainage pipes are all familiar sights. Some traditional fence styles are named for the temples or places where they were first admired, and they have recognizable forms, such as vertical stems lashed to a horizontal frame, or half-round stems arranged in a lattice. Bundles are tied using black palm-fiber rope in neat, decorative knots; the joints are meant to be seen, and a skilled worker’s knot work is part of the attraction.
Because bamboo weathers to a gray-brown shade over time, fences are often replaced and refreshed rather than preserved forever. This acceptance of change fits easily with the idea of wabi-sabi, where age and wear count as part of the beauty. In garden design more generally, bamboo is also valued for its sound, as leaves rustle in the wind and a hollow stem can make a gentle knock when water fills and empties it.
Utensils in the Kitchen and Tea Room
At home, bamboo supplied many practical tools: steamers, strainers, trays, whisks, ladles, chopsticks, skewers and rolling mats for making food. They are light, easy to clean and usually inexpensive, and they do not scratch cookware. Flexible bamboo rolling mats are still used at home to shape rolled sushi, a small part of sushi history that many cooks know firsthand, and bamboo baskets drain noodles and vegetables. Lunch containers have also been made from woven bamboo, a close relative of today’s bento boxes.
The tea room has its own bamboo vocabulary. Among the tea utensils are the whisk used to froth powdered tea, the slender scoop that measures it, the lid rest on which a kettle lid is placed, and the vase hollowed from a single section of stem. A whisk is typically carved from one piece of bamboo, split into many fine tines that curl inward at the tip. Scoops are often shaped by hand and may be given a name by the person who uses them. The style of these objects favors plainness, and many Japanese tea ceremony practitioners treat a well-made bamboo utensil as equal to more costly materials.
Other Uses
Bamboo also appears in less obvious places. Flutes such as the shakuhachi are traditionally made from the base of a stem, with part of the root left on. Bamboo is used for fishing rods, for umbrella ribs and handles, for the frames of lanterns and fans, and as the armature for paper crafts. In festivals, cut bamboo is sometimes used as a decorative standing plant and for ritual markers. Along the way, the plant has acquired symbolic weight: its evergreen habit and its flexibility under snow are often read as resilience, and it is one of the three plants traditionally paired in a well-known good-luck grouping with pine and plum.
Craft Today
Industrial plastics and imported goods have replaced many everyday bamboo items, and the number of full-time bamboo craftspeople has declined in many places. Still, bamboo is renewable and increasingly appreciated, and regional centers keep their baskets, tea whisks and fences in production. Anyone interested in learning the work should find a qualified teacher, since splitting and shaving bamboo involves sharp tools and sharp splinters. As with many traditional crafts, the most useful thing a beginner can do is simply look closely at how an old basket was made.