Kesurokai

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.

A Japanese axe in the hands of a master craftsman

Today was our first day where we shared work properly with half the Japanese carpenters coming to work on the European pavillion. It was wonderful to watch as they worked out how to communicate with each other through the common language of carpentry with a smattering of English! It was also wonderful to see them teaching each other to use their favourite tools and different techniques. 

Highlight of the day was our host, hewing master Amemiya san hewing the other side of the massive beam that Robin and Hannes were working on in yesterday's video. He also started by singing his wonderful mountain song:

We have been very much enjoying the Japanese food and, whilst I have been finding chopsticks challenging, my dexterity is coming along brilliantly. I am not always sure what I am eating and sometimes the fish / shellfish is rather challenging, but there is not much I can't manage. Here's today's lunch, an assortment of fish and vegetables which are served with plain rice.

Another pleasure are the huge peaches which they slice and fetch around as a refreshing afternoon snack for us. It is quite hot and humid here and they are kept cool under running water which is diverted from a nearby stream into the kitchen area next to the forge. They looked a perfect picture under the bamboo guttering in a wooden bucket:

When carpenters meet...

 

I just received a lovely set of photos from a meeting of the German carpenters a week ago. Their main discussion was about the construction of the European Pavilion; how to divide down the making of it so different groups could work simultaneously on different parts whilst ensuring it would all fit together at the end of the event. They also had a Skype meeting with the Japanese carpenters ... and with myself of course!

There was also the final push to get all the tools that were being shipped in advance to Japan ready to go. Whilst many new ones have been given by some wonderful sponsors, the others are fine old tools that have been bought for or given to the project. Many of these were in need of a little cleaning and sharpening first and by the looks of the pictures the team thoroughly enjoyed the activity.

 

 

 

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.

Gabriel Branby of Gränsfors Bruks

If you have 25 minutes to spare, settle down and watch Gabriel Branby talk about how he turned around the ailing Gränsfors Bruks axe factory and has kept its head above water. (Thanks for the link Nigel.) It is both fascinating and inspirational:

It makes me feel even more touched that they chose to give us some tools to send out to Kesurokai and I look forwards to taking some photos and video of them in action in return.

I watched/ listened to this on my laptop whilst sat at my sewing machine altering a jacket, which brings me back to my previous post about the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum when I made a sweeping statement about disliking museums. This wasn't intended as a criticism of museums generally, just a personal reflection on the effect they have on me because I am so restless and impatient. I think museums offer a huge amount to so many people, as well as preserving many very important artefacts. However, unless I am really involved in something, preferably doing something, I find it difficult to engage my brain, hence the sewing and video combination!

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.

Preparing tools for Japan

Last weekend a small group of the German carpenters got together to prepare tools for Japan. Quite a few of the tools they are sending out are second hand so they needed cleaning, sharpening, new handles making and so on. From the photos they sent it looks as if they had an enjoyable time - in the picture on the right they are slicing their bread with a cross-cut saw. Jacob's email says that Hannes also cooked them a delicious meal of fried chicken, vegetables and potatoes followed by beer, schnaps and a bonfire! (My thanks to Melisande for the translation.)

Hannes says he now has a very impressive collection of tools all ready to go and I have asked him to send a photograph. The next stage is not so enjoyable, there is a large amount of paperwork to do before they can be shipped. A complete inventory has to be drawn up, each tool valued so the correct duties can be paid, then an inspector will visit and check everything before finally sealing the box.

Backwards = forwards … the story of Gränsfors Bruks

I was rather taken with this little story from the Gränsfors Bruks "Axe Book" (which is available to download in 8 different languages here):

In pre-industrial time all axes were hand forged to styles decided upon by the way they were used, the preferences of the carpenter, and the skills of the smith. Then, with 19^th century industrialisation, came a boom in demand for axes and the means of mass manufacture. Production shifted to factories and designs gradually changed, influenced by streamlining production and lowering costs, often at the expense of the functionality of the tools.

Gränsfors Bruks started making axes in 1902 and moved with the times, competing for the mass market, until in 1989 the skilled craftsman-designer Hans Erik Persson took the bold move of stepping back to the pre-industrial era. He started re-designing their range of axes with a focus on the needs of the craftsmen who were using them and also decided they should have a natural forged finish to show the quality of their manufacture. (Mass-produced tools have their surface imperfections hidden by being polished, filled and the surface painted.)

So, Gränsfors make specialist axes and employ around a dozen smiths, each ‘signing’ the axes they make with a stamp with their initials. Whilst they do use modern machinery (see the video below) there is clearly still considerable skill in the process. The company pride themselves in the quality and durability of their produce; whilst they cost more than their mass-produced rivals, they last so long and work so well that a craftsman would not wish to replace one on a whim.

I must add that I am not just saying this because they have kindly donated tools to our event. Robin and I have been teaching spoon carving courses for several years and have built up a collection of Gränsfors Swedish carving axes for participants to use along with a few Wildlife Hatchets for those who favour something smaller. They have seen long, hard use and are excellent tools!