Chaff sieve

Object Details

• Artist

  Hiroshima Kazuo 廣島一夫 (Japan, 1915-2013)

• Description

  Object is a large shallow sieve woven in bamboo. The selection of weaves and finished surfaces may have a utilitarian intent but they appear to be decorative as well. The large center of the basket is woven in an open weave, simple plaiting executed in pale green strips. Along the sides of the sieve, these strips are woven with narrower tan colored strips as weft in a closed weave diagonal twining. A row of brown vine material is woven around the square border between the two weaves.

  The rim is plain and rounded, with wide strips of bamboo tightly lashed around the internal structure. Under the rim is an additional thick band of bamboo, fitted tightly in place.

• Label

  A chaff sieve was used for separating husked rice grains (momi) from husks and debris or for cleaning other grains and beans (such as wheat, barley, millet, azuki beans, and soybeans) of their husks or dried pods. After being sorted with this sieve, the grain was further processed using a winnow. Mr. Hiroshima learned to make this implement during his apprenticeship.

  It has a precisely spaced open weave in the center panel. The size of the mesh is expressed in the traditional measurement of bu (3.03 millimeters). All such sieving baskets are painstaking to produce and require special tools.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Held and Let Go (November 21, 1998 to January 16, 1999)

• Origin

  Hinokage, Miyazaki prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Nakamura Kunio

• Type

  Tool and Equipment

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1990s

• Name

  Hiroshima, Kazuo

• Place

  Hinokage, Japan, Miyazaki prefecture

• Topic

  Contemporary Art, Heisei era (1989 - 2019), Art, Japanese Art, Bamboo, Food

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Tools and equipment