In 1925, at the Paris World's Fair, Japanese bamboo crafts, including those by Iizuka Rokansai, attracted a great deal of attention.
Bamboo grows in subtropical Asia, so it must have had an exotic feel to the people gathering at the Paris World's Fair.
Since then, to this day, exhibitions have been held at art museums both in Japan and abroad, and the work has proven popular.
The project involves Masamitsu Saito, one of the world's leading bamboo basket collectors.

When Masamitsu Saito first encountered bamboo baskets, he felt they were a work of contemporary art with a particular craftsmanship, and he has been collecting them for 40 years.
Beautiful bamboo baskets from ancient times to the present are drawn to him like a black hole.
Fifty pieces from his collection will be coming to Ippodo.

This time, masterpieces from the past (by deceased artists) will be exhibited on the 3rd floor, and works by the eccentric contemporary artist Chikuyu Uematsu will be exhibited on the B1 floor.
His works are included in the collections of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Musée du Quai Branly (Paris), among others.
It is extremely rare for artist Uematsu's works to be gathered in one place, so we hope you will enjoy the bamboo baskets on both the 3rd floor and B1 floor.

Keiko Aono