The Bamboo Dragonflies of Arashiyama In a bamboo grove a man is carving bamboo to make dragonflies— their long tails counterweighting their paired forward-thrusting wings. In the beginning, who imagined the balance and the buoyancy that could be achieved by means of mere weight and counterweight? Yet stability depends on many matters, as the recently steady bamboo dragonflies discovered when I bumped them. Even as they bob and wobble out of balance they look elegant— the bamboo dragonflies carved to match poise with counterpoise. Andrew Lansdown
Subscribe to get access to all online articles
Already a member?
Sign in to read this article
Digital Subscription
$88/ YR
Get the latest ideas from Australia’s most insightful writers.
- Digital Subscription includes
- Online editions of Quadrant Magazine
- Printed editions of Quadrant Magazine
- iPad ready PDF
- Access to Quadrant Archives
Printed & Digital Subscription
$108/ YR
For avid readers of leading ideas
from Australia’s brightest.
- Printed & Digital Subscription includes
- Online editions of Quadrant Magazine
- Printed editions of Quadrant Magazine
- iPad ready PDF
- Access to Quadrant Archives
- Quadrant Patron includes
- Online editions of Quadrant Magazine
- Printed editions of Quadrant Magazine
- iPad ready PDF
- Access to Quadrant Archives
- All new editions of Quadrant Books
- Exclusive invitations to Quadrant Dinners, book launches and events.