The
Complete Japanese Joinery
Japanese Woodworking by Hideo Sato
Japanese
Joinery by
Yasua Nakahara
Translated by Koichi Paul Ni
Softcover
185 x 235mm
397pp
Published by Hartley & Marks Publishers, Vancouver BC Canada
R.R.P.$59.90
ISBN 0-88179-121-0
ON BACK ORDER
As reviewed in The Australian Woodworker Issue 130
This is actually a combination of two books of roughly equivalent length - Japanese Woodworking and Japanese Joinery.
The first deals with the Workplace, Tools and their Care, Layout of the Work, The Functions of Various Members as well as Framing and Securing. The second deals with the actual ways in which joints are made.
You would be right to expect that the latter, which includes some of the fascinating and beautiful joints used in Japanese Temple building, describes a craft so different from its Western counterpart as to show hardly any resemblance. But the differences between the two crafts begin much further back in the process.
Compare, for example, the Western methods of marking out with the way in which the same tasks are performed with a Japanese Sumisashi (ink marker). Western woodworkers may argue that not even the sharpest pencil, but only a marking knife, can achieve the desired accuracy. Yet the Sumisashi is essentially a marking device - shopmade from wood (as described in this book) - with which ink lines are drawn on the workpiece. The joints made with this method of marking out are, nevertheless, among the most complex anywhere in the world.
It is the differences between Japanese woodworking and the woodworking that most of us have experienced until now, that make the study of their methods so interesting. And it is the strength and extraordinary beauty of complex Japanese joints that makes their accomplishment so exhilarating.
It's unlikely that readers of this book will ever achieve the level of perfection expected of a Japanese Temple builder, but they are sure to enjoy a greater understanding of their craft and find new ways of approaching the projects they confront at their bench.
Illustrations: Black & White
Units of Measurement: Metric
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Author's
Preface to Japanese Joinery
Japanese
Woodworking
- The Workplace
- Tools and Their Care
- Characteristics
of Wood
- Layout
- Working the Wood
- The Functions of Various Members
-
Framing and Securing
Japanese
Joinery
- Tsugite - End Joints
- Shiguchi - Right Angle Joints
- Various
Types of Fasteners
- Hikarikata - Reproduction Methods
- Jiku Gumi - Framing
-
Flooring Construction
- Japanese Style Roof Framing
- Hip Rafter Assemblies
-
Western Style Roof Framing
- Gable Construction
Appendix
1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
Glossary
Index