MATSUMOTO Hafū (born 1952, Haneda)

Himiko “Mysterious Queen”

Ajiro-ami, chevron plaiting

A disciple of Iizuka Shōkansai (1919-2004), Living National Treasure, Matsumoto Hafū belongs to one of the major lineages of contemporary Japanese bamboo art.

With Himiko, he summons the shaman-queen of the Yamatai kingdom, a founding figure of ancient Japan, situated between history and legend. The madake bamboo basketry, woven in ajiro-ami and punctuated by a silk cord, becomes the setting for an antique kōro found at an antiques dealer’s. Between formal rigor, ritual presence, and the invisible breath of incense, the work transforms a functional object into a ceremonial and meditative form.