Kesurokai

European wood carving

A happy memory from the last night of the project when, after successfully completing both buildings, we partied in the light of the barbecue fire in the European building:

The metalwork for the barbecue was made on site by Manne and Gunther our blacksmiths and the horse's head holding it was made by another of our group, German carver Rahel Schroeder who was also assisted for a while by the wood carver from the Japanese group:

Rahel also carved across the front of the building; a European plane one side, a Japanese plane the other and the inscription Schoen ist wenn altes bleibt wo neues entsteht. We had a long discussion about how best to translate that into English and my favourite version, conveying the emotion rather than a literal meaning, is Beauty is keeping with tradition whilst developing new things.

This was a huge task for such a short project which Rahel managed amazingly well. For the main inscription she trained up two others from our group who had come along because their partners were carpenters; Anna-Katharina Krodel, who is a goldsmith, and Lina Gillefalk who is a buildings conservation specialist.

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.

Mountain song

Amemiya san has composed a song for our Chisana Kesurokai event and posted this beautiful video of him singing it for us:

Behind him you can see some of the Japanese carpenters who are preparing for our arrival, along with a couple of German journeymen carpenters who are currently travelling in the area. He has suggested that each nation should learn a song from their home land to teach to the others on site. 

Our final team is nearly finalised. Whilst it has been a disappointment that the Czechoslovakian craftsmen will be unable to come, there are some Austrian carpenters who have come on board instead. Also, Hannes and Cornel are currently working in France and have met some French carpenters who might also interested.

Blacksmiths

Whilst most of the Kesurokai team are carpenters, we will also be accompanied by two blacksmiths; Manfred Heiser and Gunther Löbach who will make various metal parts needed for the building (nails, barbecue etc). Manfred has been involved in the previous Kesurokai events and can be seen here at the 2007 event working on the top section of the torii with Amemiya san:

 

Gunther originally trained as a carpenter and cartwright before he started metalworking and now runs his own business designing and making knives, ScorpioDesign. Knives are also a passion of mine as my last research project involved re-interpreting the skills of traditional Sheffield knife makers for contemporary craft practitioners, working with my friend, knife maker Grace Horne. When we were chatting on Skype at the weekend Hannes was showing me this knife of Gunther's which is fantastic!

(more about it here)

Gunther is also kindly translating this blog into German for me, which is an epic task, link to follow when we have it sorted.

Japanese inspired craft work

I just had Kesurokai orgainser, Hannes Schnelle send me some photos of his work to put on his German web site, but they're so lovely I thought I'd share them here too.

Hannes trained in Japan in the skills of making both shōji, traditional Japanese sliding screen doors, and timber framed buildings. His current work reflects the influence of both cultures, beautifully  demonstrated by this log store, affectionately called by its owners 'the temple for logs.'

 

Here are some more traditional shōji made as cupboard doors:

 

 

Profile: Ulrik Hjort Lassen

Ulrik is from Denmark, but currently based in Sweden whilst studying for a PhD in practical carpentry, researching working methods in timber framed constructions. His particular interest is in the different procedures of “Afbinding, Opsnøring and Tilridsning,” Danish words which (unsatisfactory) can be translated into layout and scribing.

The Scandinavians take their traditional crafts much more seriously than in the UK and have an excellent educational programme to show for it. Ulrik started his carpentry training at the Dacapo Craft School in Sweden, which was originally a vocational training centre for carpenters specialising in traditional building crafts, but then became part of Göteborg University. So he now has a Bachelors degree and is currently undertaking a five year research programme for his PhD.

Whilst I admire the Scandinavian’s attitude to traditional craft, it seems that practice-led PhDs are not well established in the field and he is still struggling with “ways of executing practical research in an academic world without losing the performance of the craft”. Having done a practice-led PhD myself and subsequently been doing research training for others, this might something I can help with. I am looking forwards to spending some time with Ulrik in Japan and discussing this.

In the mean time, a large part of Ulrik’s time is spent on practical building projects, both on his own in the building yard, and as a part of different projects, which have been all over Europe since much of the timber construction in Sweden is with whole log construction, rather than timber framing. The Japanese Kesurokai is an opportunity to spread his knowledge a little further!

 Ulrik will travel to Japan with his fiancée, Lina Lo Gillefalk, who is just completing a qualification as a conservation officer specialising in the built heritage (“bebyggelsesantikvarie”). She will be an observer on the project and together they will write about the importance of practical workshops to maintain both practical skills and the intangible cultural heritage of the building crafts.

There's more about Ulrik, including some video, on this fascinating French timber framing web site.

Distance learning

Two years ago Robin first had email correspondence with a Japanese turner, Tomio Imaru. Inspired by my videos of Robin on YouTube and Robin's book 'The Wooden Bowl', he had built himself a bowl turning lathe, forged his own tools and taught himself to use them. They keep in touch over the internet; Imaru san has proved a good learner and makes lovely bowls!

Now they hope to meet properly if Robin can make arrangements for Imaru san to visit the Chisana Kesurokai work site whilst we are in Japan in August. It would be a great experience for them both, as there is nothing like working with a fellow craftsman to progress your skills.

Here's some video I made of Robin with another craftsman who he mentors from a distance, Michail Schütte, who is German so we see a little more often!

Traditional craft apprenticeship

As a great admirer of traditional craftsmanship, I am saddened when craftsmen come to the end of their working practice without having passed their unique skills on. However, the more I read about traditional apprenticeship, the more I can see why this has happened and cannot wish for a return to the old ways of teaching.

I just finished reading "Edo Craftsmen, master artisans of old Tokyo" and of the twelve featured craftsmen only two appear both to have long-term viable businesses and trained apprentices to pass on their skills. Part of the problem is the increasing accessibility of cheaper, mass-produced alternatives to whatever they make. However, many craftsmen manage to market their produce in such conditions by selling a small volume at higher prices to more discerning customers. The failure is in part caused by a lack of younger people coming into the crafts with the vision to exploit such markets.

The descriptions in the book of the craftsmen's experience of traditional apprenticeship reveals both the rigour and the modern-day drawbacks of the system. They would start very young and spend several years doing menial tasks whilst observing the breadth of the practice, then gradually take on small tasks followed by increasingly complex ones as they grew older and more able. The emphasis was not on teaching, but learning; observing and imitating, rather than being shown how.

With a good master and a willing student this clearly works well. In her study of the Japanese ceramicist Shoji Hamada, Susan Peterson describes the relationship between deshi (apprentice) and master: “To learn as a deshi means to submit one’s self to the master, to leave one’s own self, to become ‘in’ the master. This ‘surrender’ to the master does not mean just blind imitation, but gives a spiritual discipline and the opportunity to absorb a skill into one’s bones.”

However, it is a system that relies on a huge amount of trust and non-verbal communication between master and apprentice, and that is not always going to work well. Whilst a very strict master might ensure that very high standards of craft skills are passed from one generation to the next, it might well be at the cost of creativity and the ability of the younger person to see new opportunities and develop new markets. Given also that young people stay in school much longer nowadays, I cannot see a traditional craft apprenticeship being a very appealing option.

The future, however is not all bleak, I think there are craftsmen who have adapted to new ways of teaching and also multimedia offers huge potential to record and transmit quite complex skills. In my last research project I worked with traditional Sheffield knife makers and made an online resource which was successfully used by a variety of learners. The wonders of the internet mean information travels fast and those who wish to learn in this way can readily access such resources and conduct their own apprenticeships in their own way.

Sharing more than skills ...

One important aspect of Kesurokai is that the craftsmen also spend social time together, sharing accommodation, food and conversation. This aspect of the project gives real insight into each others cultures, far more than they would gain by just working together.

Food (and drink!) is particularly important given the hard physical work these craftsmen undertake. When Hannes and Michail built our little barn I felt as if I was constantly shopping and cooking, but thankfully they were good at washing up!

On-site in Japan they have constructed a very fine kitchen/dining area with a traditional central fire and are already putting it to good use:

 

 

I am very much looking forwards to experiencing real Japanese food, but must brush up on my chopstick skills.