by Alex Landefeld
I personally have cultivated two species of bamboo in my
Western Pennsylvania (USA) garden for the past seven years, and
have collected artwork, musical instruments and cooking utensils
manufactured from bamboo.
The Internet seems the fitting place to commemorate one's
love for bamboo, since the medium itself is constantly changing,
much like the year-to-year growth of a stand of bamboo. Links
from web site to web site seem to grow in all directions, much
like the rhizomes of a running bamboo. Turn away for a short
while, and those hardy rhizomes will be several feet closer to
your back door!
The place in my heart that's reserved for bamboo has been
sculpted by two aspects of bamboo: it's use as a metaphor for
human life; it's beauty in all seasons, from first sprouting of a
young culm, to bowing to the weight of newly fallen snow. Bamboo
can be metaphorically compared to human life in that as a fresh
new culm, bamboo is very delicate. But through life, it's strong
points are an extremely tough skin and excellent flexibility. In
death, bamboo can become brittle and easily broken.
Having said that, harvested bamboo is used extensively for
construction work, furniture fabrication, paper making and many
other implementations.
May you enjoy these links, and perhaps your heart will
reserve a place for bamboo.
References
Cunningham, Michael R. The Triumph of Japanese Style The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991
Dajun, Wang and Shao-Jin, Shen. Bamboos of China Timber Press, 1987.
Farrelly, David. The Book of Bamboo Sierra
Club Books, 1984.
Takama, Shinji. Bamboo: One Hundred Paths to Beauty Graphic-sha Publishing Co., 1989