“Long long time ago, there was an old Bamboo Cutter man called Taketori-no-Okina. He cut bamboos from forests and used it for many different daily tools.”

This is the first sentence from “Princess Kaguya”, Taketori-Monogatarior Kaguya-hime in Japanese. This is the tale of the Bamboo Cutter that was written in 9th or 10th century Japanese folktale. It is considered the oldest existing Japanese narrative. The story is about the life of a mysterious girl called Kaguya-hime, who was discovered as a baby inside a glowing bamboo plant by Taketori-no-Okina. According to the first sentence of this tale there is a very close relationship between human life and bamboo in Japan.

TAKE, bamboo is one of the typical trees in Asia. I grew up in the countryside in Japan and my house was located just in front of a bamboo forest. I also have some experiences of using bamboos the same as in the tale, “Princess Kaguya”. When I walk in the bamboo forest, I have a very special feeling that is intricately related to my childhood background. Nowadays there are several problems about bamboo forest, but on the other hand bamboo itself is focused as an ecological and sustainable material.

There is an interesting project involving bamboo forests that is going on near my hometown in Japan. This project is producing bamboo plywood and furniture made from this material.

For my Masters examination, I have designed furniture made of this bamboo plywood related to my background and my feelings towards the bamboo forest.