Flower Basket 'Genpo', Hermit's Abode by Wada Waichisai III

Many Waichisai baskets take titles from Daoist legend, reflecting the esteem for that cultural world maintained in 20th century Japanese tea circles, and also bringing these works a mystical flavor. In ancient China the Kunlun mountains were thought to be the home of the immortals and deities, a kind of distant paradise actually present in the landscape, a place of pilgrimage and purification. Daoist legend is full of hermits and ascetics and their journeys into the mountains in search of enlightenment. The title of this basket calls such ideas and stories to mind, as does the basket, with such large size, elegant form, and formidable construction of such rich material.

For a partner basket by the same artist, see the Minneapolis Museum of Art.