Soho Katsushiro

• Designation
  Living National Treasure (Important Intangible Cultural Property for Bamboo crafts)
• Category
  Wood and Bamboo
• Techniques
  Wiped lacquer finish, Plaited bamboo
• Born
  1934 - 2023
• Membership
  Advisor of Japan Kogei Association

Style

In recent years, with the free use of weaving techniques KATSUSHIRO has created many flower baskets and container baskets. He does not accept any repeat orders for a particular piece, and spends six to twelve months creating each individual piece of work. He consistently seeks the motifs of his works in the northern part of Tochigi Prefecture, and uses locally-grown bamboos as materials.

Biography

• 1934
  Born in current Nasu Shiobara City, Tochigi Prefecture as the youngest child among eight siblings
• 1949
  Produces bamboo farm tools after graduating from junior high school (-1965)
• 1965
  Studies under bamboo craft artist, Keizo YAGISAWA (- 1967)
• 1968
  Studies under bamboo craft artist, Bunseki SAITO (- 1973)
  Selected for the first time at the 15th Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition
• 1972
  Becomes Full Member of the Japan Kogei Association
• 1985
  Invited to submit to the "Modern Bamboo Craft" Exhibition sponsored by The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
• 1990
  Evaluator at the 37th Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition (3 times in total)
• 2003
  Invited to submit to "Japan's Traditional Art Crafts A 50-Year Retrospective" (sponsored by Japan Kogei Association, NHK, and Asahi Shimbun)
  Submitted to "Bamboo Masterworks - Japanese Baskets from the Lloyd Cotsen Collection" Exhibition (sponsored by Nikkei Inc.)
• 2006
  Judge at the 53rd Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition
• 2009
  Evaluator and Judge at the East Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition
  Evaluator and Judge at the 12th Wood and Bamboo Traditional Kōgei Exhibition
• 2012
  The 5th Ohtawara Art Museum "Second Nature - Katsushiro Soho's Expressions" Exhibition (sponsored by Ohtawara City)
  Invited to submit his artwork, "Kodama" (basket woven with thin bamboo strips) to the "JAPAN NEXT EXHIBITION of Fine Arts" Exhibition (sponsored by the Cabinet Office
  Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters) held in Paris and New York
• 2013
  Craft Technique Documentary "Bamboo Work - The Art of Katsushiro Soho-" (Planned by the Agency of Cultural Affairs, Produced by Mainichi Productions)
• 2014
  "Masterpieces of Bamboo Art in Tochigi" Exhibition, interview and gallery talk at Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts
• 2016
  "Expressing Warmth - Passing on the Spirit and Technique to the Next Generation - " Exhibition at Jingu Museum
• 2017
  "Bamboo Art Living National Treasure Katsushiro Soho Exhibition" held at Ibara Municipal Denchu Art Museum
  Artwork chosen as one of the "83 Selected Treasures of the Heisei Era" and dedicated to Yakushiji Temple in commemoration of the repairing of the East Pagoda
• 2020
  "Masterpieces of Bamboo Art - Katsushiro Soho and Fujinuma Noboru -" Exhibition at Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts

Awards

• 1983
  Received the Tokyo Governor Award (Exellence Award) at the 30th Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition
• 1997
  Received the NHK Chairman's Award at the 44th Japan Traditional Kōgei Exhibition
• 1998
  Received the Medal with Purple Ribbon
• 2005
  Designated as Holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property for "Bamboo Crafts"
  Awarded "Person of Cutural Merits" by Tochigi Prefecture
  Honorary Citizen of Ohtawara City

Public Collections

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Museum of Fine Arts Boston
• Agency for Cultural Affairs
• MOA Museum of Art
• Ibara Municipal Denchu Art Museum
• Nasunogahara Museum
• Yakushiji Temple
• Jingu Art Museum
• Asian Art Museum
• Ohtawara City, Tochigi
• Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts
• Minneapolis Institute of Art