Making
Shoji
by Toshio Odate
Softcover
215 x 280mm
119pp
Published by Stobart Davies, Hertford, UK
R.R.P.$55.90
ISBN 0-85442-090-8
As reviewed in The Australian Woodworker Issue 107
This book is no less unique than its author. Born in 1930, Toshio Odate was an apprentice woodworker during the period immediately after World War II. It was a time in which the training he received had more to do with the preceding centuries of woodworking practice in his native Japan, than with the new tools and machines which his country was shortly to develop and market to the rest of the world.
In his early 20s. Odate moved away from the workshop and attended university where he concentrated upon art and design. In 1958, he was awarded a fellowship for the introduction of traditional Japanese woodworking to the United States. He has remained in the US ever since. Through his teaching of industrial design and sculpture at university level, the exhibition of his own sculptures, his demonstrations of woodworking, workshops, classes, seminars, his articles in woodworking magazines and his widely read book: Japanese Woodworking Tools, Their Tradition, Spirit and Use, Odate has acted as a powerful ambassador for an endangered culture.
As its name indicates, this is a book about making Shoji. As the reputation of its author assures us, it is a book of solid worth, describing in meticulous detail every aspect of the task. It begins with the preparation of the timber, then passes through each phase of the project, detailing the traditional Japanese methods of construction. Although it is unlikely many Western readers would want to forego the use of their woodworking machines in order to use some of these techniques, they are fascinating to read and would be interesting to try. For example, Odate shows how kumiko - the thin frames that surround each panel of rice paper - are traditionally split (not cut) from the prepared stock using a special splitting gauge.
Other topics which are dealt with in the body of the book include: Laying out the Joints, Marking Methods for Kumiko, Cutting the Joints, Making the Frame and Assembling the Kumiko and Stiles. These are followed by a sizeable section on the construction of a typical Japanese transom - a complex and challenging piece of woodwork.
The remainder of the book is absorbed with various peripheral subjects, ranging from traditional Japanese methods of making mortice and tenon joints (and introducing such unusual tools as the harpoon chisel that cuts on both the up and down strokes), through the types and uses of Shoji paper, to the making of Shoji handles.
This is an essentially practical text, though its author does not miss the opportunity to encourage the reader to understand the nature of the craft which brought the Shoji screen to virtually its present state of perfection almost a thousand years ago. It is a book, not only for those who want to learn the secrets of Making Shoji, but also for those who wish to increase their insight into Japanese woodworking culture.
Photos: Colour & Black & White
Units of Measurement: Imperial & Metric
Contents
Publisher's Note
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Japanese Tradition & Craftsman's Attitude
A Brief History of the Shoji
The Common Shoji
An Occurrence Under the Overhang
The Japanese Transom
The Japanese Mortise-and-Tenon
The Story of a Regrettable Scar
Japanese Rice Glue
Shoji Paper
Varieties of Shoji
Afterword:
My Apprenticeship in Japan
Index