Basket in armor plaiting c. 1930s - 1940s

This striking basket, crafted from bamboo using armor plaiting techniques, was made by Hayakawa Shōkosai III, who was active in Japan in the mid-20th century. The term ‘armor plaiting’ might suggest how deeply craft practices are embedded in wider social and cultural patterns. Here the techniques of the armorer are translated into those of the basket weaver. Why? The answer is, in part, that the Meiji Restoration of 1868 brought the decline of the samurai class and with it a loss of the traditional markets for armor. The institutional changes had wide ranging consequences. Craftsmen who once made armor, turned their skills to different areas. To understand an object like this better, the art historian would need to look at the changing class structures, as well as the history of Japanese craft guilds and schools, and the rise of the modern museum in Japan. It is in these kinds of contexts that an object like this truly comes to life.