Author: Brooks, Douglas
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 296
Release Date: 29-09-2021
Part Number: 9781953225009
Details: • Introduces significant aspects of traditional Japanese boatbuildingdesign, workshop and tools, wood and materials
• Introduces joinery and fastenings, propulsion, ceremonies, and the apprenticeship system
• The only available English-language documentation of these traditional boats and the few craftspeople left able to build them
With Japan’s unprecedented modernization in the last century, the demand for traditional boats (wasen) faded, leaving the last generation of boatbuilders with no one to teach. This is the story of the author’s apprenticeships with five Japanese masters to build their unique and endangered traditional watercraft. Brooks was the sole apprentice for each craftsman, and worked under a time-honored system in which apprentices first swept floors and sharpened tools, learning chiefly by observation with only limited direct instruction. The resulting book is part ethnography, part instruction, and part the personal story of a wooden boatbuilder fueled by a passion to preserve a craft tradition on the brink of extinction. It fills a large and long-standing gap in the literature on Japanese crafts, and will be of interest to boatbuilders, woodworkers, and all those impressed with the marvels of Japanese design and workmanship.
EAN: 9781953225009
Package Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
Languages: English