Tai Gallery was humming with enthusiasm for the artist presentation of one of the masters of Japanese basketry, Tanabe Chikuunsai IV. As guests found their seats, they could view a lively stop frame animation showing this revered artist and his apprentices constructing a huge bamboo installation at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. A…

“Alive, in each and every one of us, are countless individuals whose lifetime experiences, joys, sorrows, angers, doubts, and so forth have been successively passed down from one generation to the next. The physical form I assume now is but the fruit of what I’ve inherited from those who have existed before me. What, you…

“In that instant I knew that Kyoto had installed itself inside me much deeper than mere fancy. No other place I knew took me back so far and so deep, to what seemed like a better time and self. And as I wandered back in the dying light, lit up with a sense of rapture…

Japanese lacquer – urushi – is one of the wonders of traditional Japanese craft. From the moment of its discovery by the West, with the arrival of Portuguese traders in the mid-16th century, it was sought by royal, aristocratic and wealthy families in Europe and the United States. Inevitably expensive due to the time, patience…

The work of Seiho KIBE is currently being shown in his second U.S. solo at Tai Modern Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, until July 13, 2019. Ten years ago, Seiho KIBE had his first solo show in the United States at TAI Gallery in Santa Fe. Now, he is returning to show his new…

The solo exhibition of celebrated artist, Fujikasa Satoko will be held at Joan B Mirviss LTD. May 1 – June 21, 2019 Joan B Mirviss LTD 39 E 78 Street, New York, NY 10075 Among sophisticated collectors and informed curators, the single most sought-after Japanese clay artist is the extraordinarily gifted Fujikasa Satoko. Both visually…

KYOTOGRAPHIE has been successful partly because photographic images have the ability to transcend linguistic differences through ishin denshin: wordless communication, heartstrings vibrating in harmony.“Vibe,” which situates ishin denshin within a specific locale, is a fitting theme for the photography festival, now in its seventh year. Of the eleven main venues, “The Forms of Nature: 100…

SORA MAMÉ Fava Beans Fava beans have been part of the eastern Mediterranean diet (Egypt, Greece, Italy) for at least 4000 years. There are stories of monks from India traveling through China bringing favas to Japan in the Nara Period (710-794 AD). However, the first written evidence they were consumed in Japan is mention in…

From Steve Beimel: I interviewed Pico Iyer in 1993 about his book, The Lady and the Monk, for first issue my former publication, The Kyoto Diary. He had been living for a short while in Japan at that time, and we discussed many aspects of his book and Japan in general. Now, 26 years later,…