Bamboo, the ancient, ubiquitous grass, is everywhere in Japan. Of the over 1,500 species worldwide, nearly half are found here. It is very much a part of the history and culture of the country; as Basil Hall Chamberlain noted early on, "So extensive is the part played by bamboo in the Japanese domestic economy that the question is rather, what does it not do?"
Apparently, little. Bamboo, as Nancy Moore Bess discovers, has its own crafts, its own part in the traditional arts, in the home, in the garden, in the cuisine. It has permeated the language, it plays its part in rituals, in architecture, in the grand assembly hall as well as in the humble kitchen.
Bess and Bibi Wein spent years poring over written sources, dictionaries, collections, whole libraries, collating everything they could find about bamboo. The result is a compendium of information that is not likely to be soon duplicated.
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