One of the more delightful of the many forms of Japanese bamboo craft are stilts called takeuma (bamboo horse). The stilts are made from lengths of bamboo outfitted with special wooden footrests. It takes some skill and experience to know how to secure the footrests such that they may bear the weight of a rider as large as an adult.

My father-in-law (Suzuki Hiroshi) made 15 sets of stilts for use at our local elementary schools 100 year anniversary festival. Being a retired woodworker (shoji door and window maker) he has much past experience making bamboo and other wooden toys for his four children and two grandchildren.

Apologies: In the video I inaccurately describe the stilts as takeume which means bamboo plum instead of the proper name takeuma. I also mention at the beginning of the video that my father-in-law will be making bamboo helicopters called taketombo. While he did make the taketombo I sadly did not have a chance to film this and was unable to include any promised footage in the final video.

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