If running bamboo were as aggressive as the urban legends claim, there would be no room for humans. Yes, if you completely neglect a runner for several years, you may get runners where you don't want them. However, a little annual maintenance will take care of problems. I have a little experience with rhizome pruning: I have about 40 runners in the ground in the Seattle area and none have barriers.

Rhizomes generally don't go very deep, and once a year in the late summer or early fall I take a pickaxe and chop through any wayward runners. Usually I remove the chopped off runner from the ground by sticking the pick end under the rhizome every foot or so and leveraging it out. However, chopped off rhizomes can generally be left in the ground if you prune regularly since a runner needs a number of months to become established.

In your situation, when you plant, I suggest you dig a shallow trench (about a foot deep) around the perimeter you want to maintain, and fill it with bark or sand. Then it will be easy to chop down with a sharp shovel or a pickaxe to rhizome prune. I have also found that when you plant bamboo in a slight mound (say, 6" high, or so) it encourages the rhizomes to stay close to the surface and make pruning a little easier.

By all means, put this beautiful bamboo in the ground and enjoy it.

I can't speak to this particular species of bamboo, but it's true that pruning can control it if you don't get lazy about it. The biggest issue I see with that method vs the barrier is if you have any plants nearby, they will sprout right into the other plant's space making it difficult to get back. Usually they won't pop up next to the mother plant, they will go several feet underground before poking their head up.

I guess I had hoped to hear that we could just nip off/break off the emerging culms at the soil surface, without having to dig deeply to root out the rhizomes. Of course it would mean daily/weekly vigilance during shooting season, but if it'd work, that'd be so much easier physically for us. (But then perhaps those rhizomes left in the soil would be busy storing up energy to make even more encroaching runs the next year!)

The idea that a rhizome could run out underground for many feet and pop up in another established planting gives further pause (!).

It also seems "doable" to keep the bamboo confined with a "moat" of sand or bark. But I'm wondering how long you can keep a bamboo confined like this? Isn't a moat really just an inground container? And just like in a container, the bamboo will need dividing to maintain appearance and vigor?

echolane-
Re-read what I wrote:
1. You don't need to worry about this on a daily or weekly basis.

2. Chopped-off rhizomes left in the ground are not generally well-established enough to stay alive.

However, if you want to be nervous about this, don't let me convince you otherwise.