Sound of Rapids

Iizuka Rôkansai was born in Tokyo to one of the most successful basket-making families of the 20th century. His father and two elder brothers were featured and awarded prizes in the Paris Exposition of Decorative Arts in 1925. Rokansai, in addition to mastering basketry, expanded his creativity by also studying painting, calligraphy, tea ceremony and flower arranging. He is credited with establishing modern Japanese basketry and bamboo art, which he did by inventing new techniques and styles that transcended tradition to create purely sculptural forms and express a personal artistic vision. He promoted this approach through government-organized exhibitions and teaching; his influence set Japanese bamboo basketry on a path to acceptance as a modern art form. As early as the 1920s he was exhibiting in one-person shows, just as a modern painter or sculptor would. Rôkansai created formal distinctions for three basket styles that follow similar distinctions in Chinese calligraphy: formal, semi-formal, and informal. This hanging basket is in the gyô (semi-formal) style, which allows a certain degree of irregularity in both form and texture.