Japan Was For Nearly 300 Years,

in almost complete isolation from the outside world, 

known as the Meiji period, defined as the period between 1868 and 1912, Japan burst on the world stage, craftsman and artisans had a new and huge market to supply,

 

leading on from that modern day artisans have produced work from kibori wood sculpting to kirie paper cutting, a new exhibition opening in Tokyo highlighting today’s contemporary artisans, who have produced new and exciting examples of their work, above this image is not a real-life butterfly, nor are the puddles made from real water, the scene has been sculpted entirely from wood by Japanese artist Toru Fukuda,

artist Mika Aoki creates glass sculptures,

that look like droplets of water frozen in time,

wood sculptor Ryoho Otake creates wooden replicas that mimic not only the minute details of plants but the their life cycles as well, in the sculpture above titled “Moonlight” (2020), 

apparently deer antlers are used to carve 47 white petals and when water is poured into the sculpture, it slowly blossoms, to view more of these 17 artisans works comprising of 64 exhibits they are on display as part of the exhibition “In the Genes, Taking Marvelous Meiji Craftsmanship into the Future,” which is running from September 12 – November 26, 2023 at the Mitsui Memorial Museum in Tokyo, what exquisite works of art they are to be sure.