Beppu City Traditional Bamboo Crafts Center

別府市竹細工伝統産業会館

Traditional bamboo crafts are everywhere in Beppu. We can find open workshops and watch craftsmen cutting and working with thin strips of bamboo to make chopstick rests, bells, and baskets. A popular souvenir is bamboo woven into a sphere with a bell inside. In fact, each of the JR stations in the city have a huge (as in several people could sit inside) woven bamboo baskets displayed near the gates. The one in the photo is from Beppu Station. I love bamboo as a building material and am interested in arts and crafts, so I was excited to visit this sort of museum. There are really amazing installations and displays of both functional and decorative crafts. It's not very big, but is affordable and interesting if you like bamboo crafts. I had an equally good time just watching craftsmen in the shotengai closer to the station. I was able to talk with one of them and was gifted a bamboo hashioki, or chopstick rest, made from a few narrow strips of natural colored bamboo. I also bought a bell there about the size of my fist. I'm not sure if that workshop space was temporary or if it's always there. The entrance fee is 300 yen and Mondays are closed. Open from 8:30-17:00. Take bus number 22 from Beppu station (east) to Takezaiku Densankaikan Mae. Their English website: https://www.city.beppu.oita.jp/06sisetu/takezaiku/english/takezaiku.html