A visit to The Beppu Traditional Bamboo Craft Centre

This afternoon Hisako (my Japanese friend) took me to the Traditional Bamboo Craft Centre in Beppu. It is situated in Higashisoen area. You can take No.22 bus from Beppu station East exit and get off at Takezaikukan mae or No.1 bus from West exit and get off at Minamibaru stop. But I was lucky as Hisako took me there by her car. We arrived at the beautiful premises of the museum at 1:00 pm and purchase tickets. It’s a 2 storied building. The Exhibition hall is in ground floor and lecture/training rooms are in 2nd floor.

We entered into centre. In the entrance we saw a huge master work “The Dragon in the Sky” .The guide told us it took 6 months for the artisan to complete it. Then we turn left and through a wonderful bamboo gate entered into the exhibition hall. The hall is divided into several sections including history, materials, craftsmanship, daily life and the future sections.

According to the museum’s information booklet Beppu’s bamboo ware came out to light at the time of the 12th Emperor Keikoh’s visit to Beppu. He noticed the huge number of high quality bamboo utensils and ordered a number of bamboo baskets. Beppu became famous for hot springs at the beginning of Edo period and visitors came here to enjoy hot springs and began to buy the bamboo ware as souvenir. Thus Beppu’s bamboo crafts became famous in Japan. Beppu produce Madake bamboo. Madake bamboo is superior quality variety of bamboo and produced only in Oita prefecture. The guide told us that Japan used to export madake bamboos to USA during early 20th century. The artisans use madake and other varieties such as Kurochiku, hachiku (black) and gomadake (speckled) for making the crafts. We saw all these kind of bamboo samples kept in the exhibition hall. On the wall of the exhibition hall we saw sample of different types of weaving patterns such as rectangular, hexagonal, octagonal, reticulated, pine needle, chrysanthemum bottom, and rinko weaving patterns. Here they also displayed consecutive steps of making a bamboo basket. Some tools used for bamboo craft are also kept there.

In the “Bamboo Artwork Section” we saw the masterworks of master artisans. It was an amazing experience! So, skillful, flawless creations! I saw some master works of national living treasure Shono Shounsai (1904-1974). Shono Shounsai grew up and lived in Beppu.

We saw baskets, lamp shades, sieves, flower vases, fish traps, chairs, table wares, toys, various kind of kitchen stuffs, a palanquin and an ancient ship model made from bamboos. The surprising thing for me was the light bulb; the filament of the bulb was made of bamboo. Incredible! Here I saw a picture of Thomas Alva Edison (the inventor of light bulb) with his invented light bulb. The guide told me that Edison used bamboo filament in his light bulb. So the centre made a prototype of bamboo filament light bulb.

Beside the exhibition hall they have a Reference room where visitors can earn knowledge about bamboo craft and can see videos of bamboo weaving patterns. On the 2nd floor we saw the trainees learning the bamboo art under the guidance of professionals.

The centre provides short term study sessions for the participants to experience actual charm of making bamboo crafts. Here you can make bamboo bells, flower vases, baskets etc. The Craft centre has research facilities. Beppu’s young artisans can acquire knowledge on bamboo art there.

If you are in Beppu please pay a visit to the Beppu traditional bamboo Museum. You will certainly be amazed by the skills of the bamboo artisans. You can buy Beppu’s bamboo craft ware from shops around Beppu station.

Address: 8-3 Higashisoen, Beppu. Phone: 0977-23-1072
Opening hours: 8:30 – 17:00, Holiday: Monday
Admission fee: 300 Yen (Yen 250 for group over 20)