Pure Spring (2025), a bamboo, rattan and lacquer sculpture by Ōki Toshie

Asian Art Museum · Civic Center, San Francisco

2026 Next Generation Bamboo Art Prize Winners

Now showing1 October 2026 – 4 January 2027·$20

Prize-winning Japanese bamboo art from the 2026 Next Generation awards, led by Coffland Grand Prize winner Ōki Toshie; all three major awards went to women.

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Ōki Toshie says the sound of bamboo splitting gives her a good feeling, and the tension of the strips energises her. In May she won this year's $25,000 Coffland Grand Prize, and the museum leads with her Pure Spring (2025), made of bamboo, rattan and lacquer and lent by the artist.

You find the winners in the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Gallery, part of the Tateuchi Japanese Galleries, in a museum that holds one of the world's largest collections of Japanese bamboo art. Aoyagi Keiko took the Excellence in Tradition Prize and Hasegawa Kei the Excellence in Sculpture Prize, $10,000 each. Six of the seven finalists were women, and all three awards went to women, which the museum calls a historic turn. Entrants must be 54 or younger with no more than 24 years in the craft: in Japanese bamboo, that is the next generation.

Museum admission is $20, free for 12 and under, and Thursdays run until 8 PM.