1. Boil the bamboo to extract oil and dust

1.Boil the bamboo to extract oil and dust.

Boil the bamboo to remove the oil adhering to the surface. After boiling, the bamboo turns into a bright green color. 

2.Sun dry for 1-2 months

Once the oil has been removed, the bamboo must be dried under the sun. The bamboo color changes from a green to an ivory, almost yellow color. 

3.Kikuwari Tools

The artisan starts by cutting the round bamboo into even slices. Bamboo reeds are sometimes split little by little with a bamboo knife but it's much more efficient to use the "Kikuwari" tool which splits the bamboo instantly. This tool is called a "Kikuwari" because it looks like a chrysanthemum ("Kiku," in Japanese) when you look at it from above. Many Kikuwari tools are hung on the walls of Bamboo Workshop Once-from four-division cutters to thirteen-division cutters. 
One must have good balance to cut bamboo. If an untrained person cuts bamboo, the crack will either slant to the left or right without going down all the way to the end. It is said that it takes 3 years to learn to cut bamboo straight. 

4.Polishing the Bamboo

The surface of natural bamboo is covered with glass fiber. This is why bamboo has its shine. Removing the glass fiber from bamboo allows the bamboo to absorb dye colors and lacquer. First, scrape off the glass fiber using a scraping knife. The artisan carefully scrapes little by little, only rotating the bamboo 3mm at a time. The bamboo must be scraped with an even amount of strength or else the bamboo will lose its shine and the surface will become bumpy. 

5.Spliting the Bamboo

The artisan splits the bamboo to the preferred size of higo (a material for weaving baskets made by cutting and peeling bamboo). In some cases bamboo is split all at once with a Kikuwari but often the artisan will mark the width with a side caliper or marking-off compass and split it himself with a bamboo cutting knife starting from the back side of the bamboo. "Kimoto Takeura" is an old saying in Japan which means "trees crack from the bottom and bamboo cracks from the backside."
Bamboo may seem straight, but on careful inspection it shifts from right to left. The artisan must try to split it exactly in the middle, but if the artisan's balance is even slightly off, the crack will drift towards one side. For long higo of 3-4 meters, the artisan needs full concentration. From the outside this may seem to be a simple process, but for the artisan this is a major part of the craft.