Japanese Wooden Boatbuilding

Price: $50.00
(as of Dec 16, 2022 07:37:29 UTC – 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.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Floating World Editions; Reprint edition (September 29, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1953225004
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1953225009
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.6 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.53 x 0.78 x 11.08 inches