Japanese Ikebana Basket with Tree Roots

This incredible bamboo basket is a late-Meiji period flower basket (hanakago) designed especially for ikebana, the Japanese art of floral arrangement. The gorgeous basket is masterfully woven of smoked bamboo (susutake), a desirable material that acquires a dark, red-brown color by drying out slowly above a smoky indoor hearth.

The body of the basket is wide and squat, loosely woven with a freeform pattern and interlaced with thick, rope-like vines or tree roots. The beautifully irregular weave is open and airy, each band comprised of two or more thin strips of split bamboo for richer texture. Used to contrast and anchor delicate flowers, this ikebana basket perfectly balances the natural beauty of organic materials with the restraint and skill of an artist's hand.