The Bamboo Sukkah

Up to the NY Botanical Garden today with friends Lou & Danyal to see the Henry Moore sculptures on a glorious autumn day. So glorious that the roses were still in wild profusion in the rose garden. The sculptures were fun, for a bit, but a little Moore goes a long way.

What got me, no surprise, was the exhibit of chrysanthemums, done in cooperation with Shinjuku Gyoen. The amazing blooms trained in rows like so many Japanese schoolchildren was a flashback to my autumn days in Tokyo. And then we saw the Sogetsu Sukkah. No, it isn't really a sukkah. But many Sogetsu ikebana masters like to make large arrangements with bamboo. The last head of the school, the late Hiroshi Teshigahara (also film director, whose Woman in the Dunes was an existentialist masterpiece) loved to make large, sculptural arrangements with bamboo. And this one, by Tetsunori Kawana, is clearly in that tradition. Standing under the tangle of a roof, held up by simple poles, I realized you could see just enough sky for this roof to be right for a sukkah. All the installation needed were bamboo blinds hung on the sides to serve as walls. And maybe tatami mats for dinner on the floor.