Eighth-Day Moon Flower Basket

On the eighth day of the lunar calendar, a half-moon appears in the sky. True to its name, the semi-spherical body of this basket appears to wax and wane depending on the angle from which one views it. The fenced sides evoke the railings on Japanese balconies from which one would gaze at the moon. Maeda Chikubōsai taught himself bamboo basketry and was particularly adept at employing the natural bend in the plants and their rhizomes to shape his baskets. In this work, he took advantage of the bamboo’s curves to form the handle.