A lovely Japanese bamboo ikebana basket in the shape of gourd with an open mouth and a body circa 1920s-1940s. The piece was woven in great details and styles with mostly irregular and loose twining weaving technique. Several different kinds of bamboos and sizes of whole rods and stripes were used together to construct the body and the ribbons that commonly seen tied on the guard. The bamboo material used are "sooted" bamboo (susutake in Japanese), which were collected in old houses where years of smoke created a natural patina on the surface. It gives the piece an age elegance. Gourd is an auspicious symbol in Asian countries like Japan and China. It is associated with the holder of ambrosia thus an emblem for longevity or immortality.