Spiral Pattern Flower Basket, 1971, Hayakawa Shokosai V (Living National Treasure). Photo by Jonathan Ley
The first Art in the Garden exhibition of the year is called Hanakago: The Art of Bamboo and Flowers, featuring the fine Japanese bamboo basketry collection of Portland resident Peter Shinbach. Mr. Shinbach has more than 30 museum quality bamboo baskets and sculpture which will be exhibited in the Pavilion and Tanabe Galleries from February 3 – April 1, 2018. The collection includes work by Living National Treasure bamboo artists, with an emphasis on work by artists from the Kansai region, including some from Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara, with additional works available for purchase provided by TAI Modern Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the leading Japanese bamboo and contemporary art gallery in North America.
From February 3-April 1, this exhibition will feature the fine Japanese bamboo basketry collection of Portland resident Peter Shinbach. It will be one of the first ever exhibitions to combine an exhibition of basketry with floral arrangements by top Kyoto ikebana masters of the Saga Goryu School of Ikebana from Daikakuji Temple.
The exhibition is part of the “Year of Kyoto,” the Garden’s first celebration of the regional art and culture of Japan in 2018. Hanakago Features baskets (kago) that have been woven as vessels for the display of flowers (hana), especially those used in tea ceremony. It will be one of the first ever to combine an exhibition of basketry with floral arrangements by top Kyoto ikebana masters
of the Saga Goryu School of Ikebana from Daikakuji Temple.
Hanakago: The Art of Bamboo and Flowers / Photo by Jonathan Ley
With the deep history and long traditions of Daikakuji temple in Kyoto, we are honored to host Etsuho Kakihana Sensei, master teacher and Assistant Headmistress of the Saga Goryu School of Ikebana Headquarters, assisted by Mitsuko Shima and Setsuho Horii Sensei, to create ikebana arrangements in a selection of baskets in the exhibition for the Golden Crane Society opening
reception on February 2 and public opening weekend on February 3-4, 2018.
Photo by Jonathan Ley
This is a great honor for the Garden, as this temple is one of the most prestigious in Kyoto. Daikakuji is a monzeki temple in which the abbots trace their lineage to the imperial family. It was founded in the 9th century, not long after the city of Kyoto itself was founded.
Originally, it was the residence of Emperor Saga, who built Osawa-no-ike, the city’s first man-made pond, one of the oldest in Japan. The Heian period garden and pond were the site of imperial boating parties, which are re-enacted today during the temple’s famous Moonviewing ceremony in autumn. Emperor Saga’s love of spider chrysanthemums was legendary, and the Saga Goryu School of Ikebana was founded there and still bears his name.
Portland is fortunate to have a long-standing branch of the Saga Goryu School of Ikebana, and Rev. David Komeiji of Henjyoji Temple, a long-time friend of the Garden, is the North American head of the school.
Throughout the exhibition, teachers and students of Saga Goryu and other member schools of Ikebana International will arrange flowers in the baskets each weekend.
