Page 10 RAIN September/October 1984 Section ofagrowing bamboo culm, sheaving stages of development (FROM; The Bamboos: A Fresh Perspective) Images: Traditional Japanese Craftsmanship in Everyday Life (a photo-essay by Takeji Iwamiya, edited by Mitsukuni Yoshida, 1978,1979, 304 pp., $125 cloth from: Weatherhill/Tankosha, 6 East 39th Street, New York, NY 10016). Gage writes that “the Japanese probably reveal themselves most clearly in their ways of dealing with bamboo. This plant... lends itself to an incredible variety of uses that range from food (the bamboo shoot is a much relished delicacy) to fans and flower vases. It is an architectural material, a partitioning or curtaining material, and a weaving material for containers of all kinds. It can be split to become the ribs of umbrellas, the frameworks for paper lanterns, and the ornamental stoppers for bottles of sake offered to the gods. Bamboo makes music; it provides measuring, spinning, and weaving devices, and it forms the cages for birds and insects. It covers hillsides with masses of feathery green plumage, furnishes poles on which to hang the wash, and is in general such a friend to man that one is scarcely surprised to learn that the Japanese consider it one of the four noble plants (along with the chrysanthemum, the plum blossom, and the orchid) and accord it a place of honor in the triad of auspicious plants—pine, bamboo, and plum—unfailingly called upon to dignify things when felicitations are in order or good luck is desired." Iwamiya's photographs show the beauty of everyday objects made of bamboo. More than any other material, bamboo expresses the attitude of art in everyday life because it has been used so extensively and beautifully in Japan. Intrigued? Want to learn more? The best short introduction to the properties and uses of bamboo is “Bamboo: The Giant Grass," by Luis Marden (in National Geographic, October 1980, pages 502-529, from: National Geographic Society, 17th and M streets, NW, Washington, DC 20036). “Bamboo is all things to some men, and some things to all men," Marden writes. He documents his visits with bamboo experts in China, Japan, and India. The article is full of interesting facts about bamboo. For instance, Thomas Edison tried more than 6,000 materials for a light-bulb filament before discovering that charred fibers of bamboo worked best. One of the most beautiful books I've seen is Bamboo, by Robert Austin, Koichiro Ueda, and Dana Levy (1970, 216 pp., $27.50 cloth from: John Weatherhill, 6 East 39th Street, New York, NY 10016). The book consists primarily of photos by Dana Levy, showing both bamboo varieties in nature and the range of objects used in everyday life that are made of bamboo. There are more lush photographs of bamboo in nature in The World of Bamboo (photographed by Shinji Takama, 1983, 236 pp., $75 cloth from: Heian International, PO Box 2402, South San Francisco, CA 94080). Finally, there is The Bamboos: A Fresh Perspective, by Floyd A. McClure (1967, 347 pp., published by Harvard University Press, now out of print). This is a botanical treatise, and includes a comprehensive bibliography. McClure wrote extensively on the botany and uses of bamboo (including the Encyclopedia Brittanica article on bamboo). He wrote Bamboo as a Building Material for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agriculture Service in 1953 (reprinted by the Peace Corps, 1979). Another good resource is Bamboo in Building Construction (a series of articles, collected by Dr. Jules J. A. Janssen, Eindhoven University of Technology, second edition, 1982,177 pp., from: ITDG Bookshop, 9 King Street, London, WCIE 8HN, England). This is an English translation and revision of a 1974 Dutch manual on bamboo, with information on preservation, housing, bridges, roads, boats and rafts, water supply, and bamboo-reinforced concrete. □ □ Painting Bamboo Bamboo is also prevalent in Chinese brush painting, a technique that often uses just one color of ink—black—and a few simple brushes to achieve exquisite effects. The Chinese say that you begin learning to paint bamboo after you have painted it 1000 times. To get started, find a good teacher. Consult the classics and how-to manuals. Here are three books that can help you master the art and give you an appreciation for the cultures that revere bamboo. The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting (translated and edited by Mai-mai Sze, 1956, 625 pp., $10.95 from: Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, NJ 08540) provides the philosophical background and some examples of classic composition. Only a small portion of the book covers bamboo. To learn how to hold the brush and form the leaves, read Chinese Painting in Four Seasons: A Manual of Aesthetics and Technique (by Leslie Tseng- Tseng Yu, 1981,195 pp., $10.95 from: Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632). The exercises in this book are truly useful; you learn step-by-step how to paint the trunk, leaves, and branches, and you can develop a good sense of composition by following the examples. A more comprehensive manual, Chinese Painting Techniques (by Alison Stilwell Cameron, 1967, $37.50 cloth from Charles E. Tuttle, 28 South Main Street, Rutland, VT 05701), provides more extensive examples as well as good how-to information. Tuttle publishes many wonderful books, but they are expensive—get this book from your library. —TK
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