In the pursuit of perfect craft: an artisan's lifework. (basketmaker Hiroshima Kazuo)(Smithsonian Institution's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C.)

Deep in the mountain fastness of southern Japan's Hinokage region lies a country of swift rivers, deep valleys and verdant forests. The rugged terrain is punctuated by terraced-hillside farmsteads and remote hamlets that lay for at least five centuries, until the post-World War II era, virtually untouched by time.

Hinokage remains a district rich in the traditions of rural existence; it is also the home of one of Japan's long-unsung local craftsmen. Over more than 60 years, Hiroshima Kazuo has handcrafted baskets; his creations, now sought out avidly by collectors, are prized for their utility and beauty. Until early summer, visitors to the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery will have a rare opportunity to view Hiroshima's works. "A Basketmaker in Rural Japan," an exhibition celebrating Hiroshima's artistry, will continue through July 9. (For anyone not able to travel to Washington, an accompanying book with photographs, bearing the same title as the exhibition and coauthored by Sackler associate curator Louise Allison Cort and Nakamura Kenji, offers a splendid armchair excursion.)

In 1932, when he was 17 years old, Hiroshima completed a demanding two-year apprenticeship and established himself as a basketmaker. It was a choice rooted in necessity: as the second-born son, he would not inherit his farming family's land. A childhood injury had left him lame in one leg, and he desired work that would render him self-reliant.

He began traveling from farm to farm, village to village, handcrafting new baskets to order and repairing old ones. His craft was essential to the day-to-day labors on a small farm. Nearly every task--storing cooked rice; portioning out fodder to cattle or feed to horses; bringing in firewood from the mountainside; shouldering loads of shiitake mushrooms harvested from the crevices of tree trunks; trapping fish or eels from the streams--required a specific bamboo container or implement.

Hiroshima produced whatever baskets a household needed, be it backpacks for ...