Katsushiro Sōhō (Living National Treasure)
Handled Flower Basket, circa 1960s-1970s
Bamboo, rattan and lacquer
Size 11¼ x 14¾ x 11 in. (28.5 x 37.5 x 28 cm)
T-5092
Bamboo, rattan, lacquer; sanbonyose asanoha-ami (triple hexagonal plaiting, base), three-over/two-under ajiro-ami (twill plaiting), yotsu-ami (square plaiting), bending, wrapping, knotting; with a brown-lacquer otoshi (water holder) cut from a bamboo culm...
Bamboo, rattan, lacquer; sanbonyose asanoha-ami (triple hexagonal plaiting, base), three-over/two-under ajiro-ami (twill plaiting), yotsu-ami (square plaiting), bending, wrapping, knotting; with a brown-lacquer otoshi (water holder) cut from a bamboo culm
Signed on the base on a bamboo plaque Sōhō saku (Made by Sōhō)
Katsushiro Sōhō, the maker of this basket, was one of the most esteemed Japanese bamboo artists of the postwar era—a master whose work bridged tradition, nature, and innovation. Raised on a farm in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, he began his formal apprenticeship under Kikuchi Yoshii and Yagisawa Keizō, supporting himself through agricultural work while producing utilitarian flower vases and brooches. In 1968, he began studying under Saitō Bunseki, a disciple of the legendary bamboo artist Iizuka Rōkansai. This lineage connected him to the creative traditions of the Kanto region and helped him transition from commercial craft to take kōgei—bamboo art shaped by centuries of tradition and technical mastery yet infused with a spirit of innovation and creativity.
Sōhō first exhibited at the Fifteenth Nihon Dentō Kōgei Ten (Japan Traditional Craft Exhibition) in 1968 and continued to show at the same event throughout his career, receiving the Tokyo Governor’s Prize in 1983 and the NHK President’s Prize in 1997. In 1998, he was awarded the Order of the Purple Ribbon, and in 2005, he was designated a Holder of an Important Intangible Cultural Asset—popularly known as a “Living National Treasure”—becoming the fifth bamboo artist to receive this honor. In 2013, the Agency for Cultural Affairs produced a special documentary film dedicated to his work.
Technically, Sōhō was a consummate master. Like many artists working in Tochigi Prefecture and the wider Kanto region, he prepared most of his bamboo strips using the masawari method, in which stems are split radially—unlike the hirawari method, which involves flat or tangential splitting and is more typical of baskets made in other parts of Japan. He often used a blend of madake (Phyllostachys bambusoides), the standard “timber” bamboo, and suzutake (Pseudosasa purpurascens), a slender variety found in Japan’s mountainous regions. His raw materials were meticulously prepared—splitting and shaping the bamboo culms with exceptional precision. Early experience restoring baskets by Maeda Chikubōsai I and other artists from bamboo lineages based in faraway Sakai (Osaka) broadened his technical knowledge and inspired him to develop new working methods that reflected contemporary sensibilities and expressed his creative vision.
Katsushiro Sōhō’s baskets evoke rather than imitate the natural world—fluid lines suggest water flowing over stones, airy weaves recall rustling leaves. “I wondered if I could capture nature in my baskets like a painter,” he once said. This vision led to a style defined by dynamic line, spatial tension, and a deep sense of intuition and observation. His baskets are meditations on nature, time, and rural life. One of his final works, Hibari (Skylark), for example, was inspired by the sight of birds rising from a wheat field near his home.
His work is held in major collections around the world, including the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs.
This basket perfectly embodies the qualities that earned Katsushiro Sōhō such high regard: flawless craftsmanship, artistic originality, and a deep expression of the light and atmosphere of his native Tochigi Prefecture. The construction began with a base woven in a three-stranded variation of traditional asanoha (hexagonal) plaiting. From there, Sōhō transitioned smoothly, almost invisibly, into a passage of ajiro-ami (twill plaiting), where the bamboo strands interlace in a rhythmic two-under, three-over pattern. He then shifted once more to yotsu-ami (square plaiting)—the most fundamental of basketry techniques—executed here with exceptional precision.
To stabilize the form both structurally and visually, he incorporated two bands of twining and completed the basket with a bent rim, secured through meticulous wrapping and knotting. To complete the basket he added an unusual, richly knotted bent bamboo handle that passes beneath the rim on both sides and contributes to the finished piece’s distinctive and elegant silhouette.
Signed on the base on a bamboo plaque Sōhō saku (Made by Sōhō)
Katsushiro Sōhō, the maker of this basket, was one of the most esteemed Japanese bamboo artists of the postwar era—a master whose work bridged tradition, nature, and innovation. Raised on a farm in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, he began his formal apprenticeship under Kikuchi Yoshii and Yagisawa Keizō, supporting himself through agricultural work while producing utilitarian flower vases and brooches. In 1968, he began studying under Saitō Bunseki, a disciple of the legendary bamboo artist Iizuka Rōkansai. This lineage connected him to the creative traditions of the Kanto region and helped him transition from commercial craft to take kōgei—bamboo art shaped by centuries of tradition and technical mastery yet infused with a spirit of innovation and creativity.
Sōhō first exhibited at the Fifteenth Nihon Dentō Kōgei Ten (Japan Traditional Craft Exhibition) in 1968 and continued to show at the same event throughout his career, receiving the Tokyo Governor’s Prize in 1983 and the NHK President’s Prize in 1997. In 1998, he was awarded the Order of the Purple Ribbon, and in 2005, he was designated a Holder of an Important Intangible Cultural Asset—popularly known as a “Living National Treasure”—becoming the fifth bamboo artist to receive this honor. In 2013, the Agency for Cultural Affairs produced a special documentary film dedicated to his work.
Technically, Sōhō was a consummate master. Like many artists working in Tochigi Prefecture and the wider Kanto region, he prepared most of his bamboo strips using the masawari method, in which stems are split radially—unlike the hirawari method, which involves flat or tangential splitting and is more typical of baskets made in other parts of Japan. He often used a blend of madake (Phyllostachys bambusoides), the standard “timber” bamboo, and suzutake (Pseudosasa purpurascens), a slender variety found in Japan’s mountainous regions. His raw materials were meticulously prepared—splitting and shaping the bamboo culms with exceptional precision. Early experience restoring baskets by Maeda Chikubōsai I and other artists from bamboo lineages based in faraway Sakai (Osaka) broadened his technical knowledge and inspired him to develop new working methods that reflected contemporary sensibilities and expressed his creative vision.
Katsushiro Sōhō’s baskets evoke rather than imitate the natural world—fluid lines suggest water flowing over stones, airy weaves recall rustling leaves. “I wondered if I could capture nature in my baskets like a painter,” he once said. This vision led to a style defined by dynamic line, spatial tension, and a deep sense of intuition and observation. His baskets are meditations on nature, time, and rural life. One of his final works, Hibari (Skylark), for example, was inspired by the sight of birds rising from a wheat field near his home.
His work is held in major collections around the world, including the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs.
This basket perfectly embodies the qualities that earned Katsushiro Sōhō such high regard: flawless craftsmanship, artistic originality, and a deep expression of the light and atmosphere of his native Tochigi Prefecture. The construction began with a base woven in a three-stranded variation of traditional asanoha (hexagonal) plaiting. From there, Sōhō transitioned smoothly, almost invisibly, into a passage of ajiro-ami (twill plaiting), where the bamboo strands interlace in a rhythmic two-under, three-over pattern. He then shifted once more to yotsu-ami (square plaiting)—the most fundamental of basketry techniques—executed here with exceptional precision.
To stabilize the form both structurally and visually, he incorporated two bands of twining and completed the basket with a bent rim, secured through meticulous wrapping and knotting. To complete the basket he added an unusual, richly knotted bent bamboo handle that passes beneath the rim on both sides and contributes to the finished piece’s distinctive and elegant silhouette.