Tanabe Chikuunsai II (1910 - 2000)

Like his father before him, Tanabe Chikuunsai II started working with bamboo as a very young child. Aged five he demonstrated his skill at hexagonal plaiting during an exhibition of his father’s works and by fifteen he had held his own exhibition. He was celebrated for his technical skills and innovation, with a focus on baskets and their uses. His individual style of openwork hexagonal plaiting is particularly admired. By 1931, his work was included in the government-sponsored Imperial Art Academy Exhibition (Teiten), followed by participation in the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition (Nitten) and others. He served as a juror and then as a councillor of the Nitten and was honoured with the Nitten Special Recognition Prize in 1952. He assumed the title of Chikuunsai II in 1937 following his father’s death. In 1991, he passed the Chikuunsai name to his eldest son and took the name of Itchikusai for himself.