People and Shops — Chikuseidō -人と店- 竹清堂さん

2026/01/29

This is a view of the workshop where the pieces are made.

After training at what is now the Bamboo Craft Training Center in Ōita Prefecture,
Mr. Kyokushō Tanaka and Mrs. Junko Tanaka took over the shop from the previous generation.
Here in this workshop, they create a wide range of bamboo works—
from finely crafted flower baskets, tea baskets, and lampshades,
to tools used on Noh theater stages.

Over the past forty years,
Mr. Kyokushō Tanaka has been repeatedly selected for the Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition,
has regularly held solo exhibitions in the United States,
and in 2008 was awarded the Purple Ribbon Medal
for his achievements in the arts.

Their son, Mr. Shigeki Tanaka,
joined the workshop in his early twenties
and has already been working in bamboo craft for more than twenty years.

The name Chikuseidō comes from “Tanaka Kiyoshi Shōten,” the shop once run by Kiyoshi Tanaka,
the father of Kyokushō Tanaka and the second generation of the family.

In the time of the first generation, the shop produced bamboo baskets as everyday tools, such as square baskets for transport and turtle-shell-patterned strainers used in school lunch kitchens.

However, during Kiyoshi’s generation, the period of rapid economic growth brought major changes.

Demand gradually shifted from bamboo products
to plastic and cardboard, and it became increasingly difficult for bamboo goods to sell as before.

Faced with these changes, Kiyoshi Tanaka began to consider creating bamboo sculptures.

He once placed a swan woven from bamboo strips on the roof of the shop, and it immediately caught people’s attention. From there, commissions for various sculptural works began to follow, one after another.

These included New Year decorations inspired by the zodiac, such as dragons and tigers, three-dimensional signboards for eel restaurants, and objects expressing opposition to nuclear weapons. Some were powerful and imposing, others playful and unique.

There were even dinosaur sculptures, so large they seemed life-sized, reaching four or five meters in length.

Creating such works required teams of several people, working day and night, and must have demanded tremendous physical strength and determination.

In more recent years, a large bamboo elephant displayed at the shop left a strong impression.
(As shown in the opening photograph, the elephant has now retired.)

Many photographs of these bamboo sculptures can also be found on Chikuseidō’s website, so we encourage you to take a look.

The bamboo sculptures created by Chikuseidō
are also introduced in detail in this book.

Both Mr. Kyokushō Tanaka and Mr. Shigeki Tanaka are interviewed about their sculptural works, and the book carefully traces the process from beginning to end.

It is a highly recommended read for anyone interested in bamboo craft—and even for those who may not be at first.

Upper photograph (or the one two images above), right-hand side (or above): Edited by the Nishi-Ogikubo Information Center, “The Pink Elephant That Lived in Nishi-Ogi.”

Here, you can see the gallery space attached to Chikuseidō’s workshop.

Chikuseidō and our own shop share a common history. Both were founded in Tokyo during the Meiji period, and both have made bamboo craft the core of their livelihood.

In the time of the first and second generations,
Chikuseidō also produced many baskets as everyday tools—square baskets for transport, vegetable baskets,
and hexagonal strainers used in school lunch kitchens.

Mr. Shigeki Tanaka’s wife, Mrs. Akiko Tanaka, is also a floral specialist, and she is active under the name “Hana Chikuseidō.”

In addition to arranging wildflowers and native plants,
she creates bouquets and basket arrangements, and also leads flower lessons and sales at Chikuseidō.

Each month, she delivers flowers to our shop as well.
Through these arrangements, we are able to enjoy the subtle changes of the seasons.

Flowers gathered from mountains and fields bring a sense of freshness and gentle vibrancy into our small shop, as if inviting a pleasant breeze to flow through the space.