Kesurokai

Japanese tea house construction

So, this is what the tea house looked like inside when it was finished:

 

It has an open area at the front with a hearth and kettle (the Japanese blacksmith made the hook for this and it is very beautiful), and a raised area at the back with tatami mats which were also made on-site and I will post more about them in the future. There is tracking for sliding doors front and back and I guess these will be added later along with the roof, which I think will be made of wooden shingles.

It was made in a similar way to the European building; each piece is cut to shape and each joint is tested individually before it is all finally put together, so the final construction happens amazingly quickly. Here's how it happened with a little additional explanation from the scale model that they used to guide their work. Firstly the base frame was constructed and the rear half boarded out:

Then the three main upright frames were put together; the one in the centre marked in red has a lovely carved frieze, shown below stacked on the ground with the other two. I will post more about the Japanese wood carver later.

The side panels had been made in advance; hand sawn planks nailed to cross-laths using beautiful nails made by the Japanese blacksmith, and they were slotted into rebates cut into the uprights as the main body of the tea house was put together. Here you can see the first upright frame in place and the first side panels being slotted in (In the model the wall closest to the camera has been left out so you can see inside!)

... and here is the final frame at the rear of the building being put into place:

Then the roof is built, starting with three cross-beams that tie the side panels in place. The Japanese are meticulous about keeping the site tidy and in the foreground of this picture you can see one of the carpenters with a lovely wooden rake used for clearing away the wood shavings:

Then the first tier of the roof with two beams front and back, and a frame to hold the central beams:

... and then the top tier of the roof, with a little persuasion(!):

Finally, there were various inside fittings to be done; the long bars that secured the side walls, held in place by wedges, and the fittings to hold the tatami mats and take sliding doors either side:

The completed tea house with Kesurokai organisers Hannes Schnelle and Amemiya san:

Yoshida Yasutaka - Japanese swordsmith

I managed to do a quick edit on some of yesterday's video. Just a quick taster but here are Manfred and Gunther, our two German blacksmiths, with our Japanese smith Yoshida, firstly in his special tea house where he showed us a sword following the traditional ceremony, then at his workshop.

Japanese swordsmith

Today I took a break from the building activities and went with the European smiths to visit the Japanese smith's workshop. He is a highly respected sword smith and it was a great honour to both be invited to his workshop and to be allowed to film.

Firstly we went to the special tea house he has behind his workshop to see one of his swords:

Then we went to his workshop where he gave us a demonstration on his forge and gave Manne and Gunther the opportunity to have a go too. Unlike European smiths he works seated, with his feet down in a pit, with his forge one side and power hammer the other. It seems a very efficient way to work and his overalls remain amazingly white!

It was unbelievably hot there; it is at a much lower altitude than our work site so outside the air temperature was very high and exceedingly humid. Added to that was the temperature of the forge and my camera was getting so hot I could hardly hold it. 

The video is rather special so it will have to wait for another time, probably until my return to England. Tomorrow it is most likely the Japanese building will be raised and on Sunday the European one - the sites are too close together to raise them both at once although they are both nearly ready I am told.

Completing the frames & the chouna (Japanese adze)

The timber frames of both buildings are really coming together now all the beams have been hewn and the joints are now being cut. Each piece is carefully marked out first; the Europeans are using a special laying-out floor for this purpose. It has been marked out using traditional daisy-wheel geometry, which is too complex to explain now, but I have it on video and might attempt an explanation of the basics once I get home!

The groups are still working one each others projects so there is a lovely mix of Japanese and European people and tools throughout the site. Some of the joints are amazingly complex and it must take quite some skill to cut them accurately.

Each joint will be tested by putting together each section of the frame on the laying-out floor, then fine adjustments will be made until the whole building has been put together and taken apart in sections many times. Then finally the whole frame will be put together ... at the current rate of work we expect that will be on Sunday for both buildings*.

My video for the day shows the difference between European and Japanese adzes. The European version has become less popular on site since the carpenters have found the Japanese ones (chouna) work superbly well. Here you can see both in action and our host Amemiya san showing one of the European carpenters how to use the chouna:

*Apologies for a lack of photos of the Japanese site. We have been having very heavy rain so large areas of the site have blue tarpaulin covers which make photography impossible. We were warned about the possibility of a typhoon this afternoon and if that had happened we would have had to remove all the tarpaulins, tie everything down and leave the site. Thankfully it did not develop and we could work on!

Japanese and European saws

Many of the timbers are sawn into two down their length and the saws used by the Japanese and European carpenters for the large pieces are radically different. The Europeans use a pit saw, which has a man at each end and in a traditional timber yard would have been used over a pit, hence the name. On site the log is raised above the ground instead, hence the large beam being raised above the ground before hewing.

The Japanese carpenter pictured spent two days leaning to use this saw and became very proficient. At the end of the day he was given it as a gift and was very moved but clearly very pleased with it. In return he gave Jochen who taught him the Japanese equivalent, a Miebiki Oga. This one here is shown being used by our host Amemiya san:

Behind him you can see Erik with a traditional German axe that is used for finishing the beams one they have been hewn. Shortly after this Eric taught Amemiya san how to hew in the traditional European style and it was wonderful to watch the two highly skilled craftsmen together. 

No video tonight, our hosts had prepared a special meal on our return which took a while to eat and now we have a table football competition running which I will film and maybe put on tomorrow's blog. Instead here is a final picture of the beautiful Japanese saws.

Sharing skills

Today was quite rainy so we were thankful for the blue tarpaulins that shelter us ... and that it was still pleasantly warm! Work on the timber frames continued to progress well and some of the craftsmen took the opportunity for some wonderful new experiences.

Firstly, our junior blacksmith, Gunther spent a while working with the Japanese smith who is a well known sword smith from the area. Whilst our translator, Rahel (seen here with our senior blacksmith Manne), understandably struggles with specialist words communication usually transcends words:

Then Robin had a wonderful time learning Japanese style hewing from Hannes. With this being the main beam, which is situated 12 foot up in the air ready for sawing, and its surface being wet and slippery, it did not make an ideal beginners piece but Robin got on wonderfully. However I think he now wants to buy a proper Japanese hewing axe!

To finish some video of them in action along with one of the Japanese carpenters who came to have a play with some European hewing axes and helped Jochen to finish surface one of the beams. 

Japanese tool sharpening

We had another busy day today. For a few days both groups will work on their own projects whilst they settle into their routines. The European group are still hewing beams and they have a large area if plywood on which they are setting out the Daisy wheel geometry to the right on the photograph below. (The site is rather difficult to photograph as it slopes steeply, sorry!)

Danish carpenter Ulrik has been enjoying learning this technique today and I hope to find out more about it from him later in the week. One lovely feature of the work site is the large trough where the carpenters can sharpen their tools. This has water diverted from a nearby stream running through it:

Here is some video available here which shows one of the carpenters sharpening and a panoramic view of the site. At the top is the European work area where the carpenters are busy hewing and under the blue tarpaulins further down is the Japanese work area... more video of this tomorrow!

財団法人 竹中大工道具館 Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum

For those interested in Japanese axes and other traditional carpentry tools, take a look at the web site of the Takenaka carpentry tools museum. As well as having excellent images of lots of beautiful old tools there is a whole section explaining in quite some detail about them, including regional variations and their cultural significance. They have some connection with the main Japanese Kesurokai events, I recall from a conversation with Hannes a while back, I think they might provide some sort of sponsorship. Anyway, here's a taster from the site:

I love the web site but must confess to hating museums, their sterile environment very rapidly gives me information overload, so I was greatly relieved to see this is far away from where we are staying. Visiting it with a group of carpenters would have been a nightmare! I am far happier doing my background research in my own time and space, then watching the tools in action on the work site when I can see how they work and talk to those who are skilled in their use.

The big Gränsfors Bruks parcel arrived at Hannes' house yesterday so our tools are now all ready to go to Japan. This weekend the German carpenters will have a big meeting there to discuss the work plans and I shall hopefully drop in via the wonders of Skype.

削ろう会

I have been looking for more information on the internet regarding the main Kesurokai events in Japan and just had a major breakthrough. Firstly the word in Japanese 削ろう会 and then the most frequently-used  translation which spells it with a "z" (American in origin) and often also hyphenated, giving kezuro-kai or sometimes kezurou-kai.

Now Google is providing me with all sorts of interesting things like this:

The original Japanese kesurokai

Kesurokai meetings started in Japan in 1995, organised by the highly respected temple carpenter Sugimura san. His aim was to bring together different craftsmen who normally work remotely to exchange traditional craft techniques and knowledge.

These events serve not only the practical purpose of ensuring age-old skills are maintained, but also create a sense of community amongst the craftsmen, helping them maintain their businesses. The Kesurokai movement has around 1500 members in Japan and holds twice yearly meetings all over the country.

A friend just brought this web site to my attention which has some images from a Kesurokai meeting in 2006 which show just how large and well attended they are:

 

 

There are also some really superb videos on the web site showing how various woodworking tools are made.