Hello all,

I have relocated to New England and am in the process of forming a group to pursue the study of Japanese carpentry through the building of roof models.

I have received definite interest from half a dozen people so far. First meeting slated for sometime in Novemeber, with meetings to take place afterward every one to two months. Meetings will likely be all-day, or day-and-a-half affairs.

Besides carpentry layout (descriptive geomtetry and math is involved), there will be opportunities to examine other aspects of Japanese caprentry, like sharpening and plane tuning, structural framing systems, joinery, insulative systems, and so forth. Please contact me if you have any interest, and can commit to steady participation. Location of meeting(s) yet to be determined - probably somewhere in Mass. Contact me for further information. This will also be posted in the upcoming Scantlings.

Cheers,

Chris

Darn Chis, if you weren't at the extreme opposite corner of the country I'd be there. Just what I need to understand J roof systems, is to actually see one being built.

I'd love to learn the ways,, but am SO far away. Can you keep me posted??
Yours sincerly,
grasshopper

thanks for the replies folks. One of the challenges facing the forming of this group is the fact that people interested in this area of exploration don't all live together in the same place, so for some, the distance to travel is a real inconvenience and cost burden. I have some people who will be traveling at least 6 hours to get to the area, so that is a definite obstacle.

i am always willing to come out to other part of the country and teach intensive workshops. It involves a modest amount of time to organize. I know there is lots of interest out on the west coast. The main problem with intensives is that the information brought forward quickly becomes overwhelming, usually around mid-afternoon on day two, and the chunk of time that people need to take means that after the las is over, they have a mounting stack of other stuff from their daily life needing attention, and thus it can be a challenge for some to get back to the material they learned and properly digest it. It's for these reasons I'm trying to form a study group that meets for a day or two every month or two - smaller more digestible chunks instead of 'the drowning'.

I'm not sure how much interest there will be in the North East for this sort of thing, and I'm going ahead anyhow. Even if no one showed up for the study group, I'm going to be continuing my own study of Japanese roof carpentry through the building of various roof models (and hopefully the occasional paid project will materialize as well!).

Howdy Chris...Nathaniel Bossi here. I'm in Sheffield, MA, and I would love to get together with you to learn. Any time. I am interested in anything you are inclined to teach. Drop me an email or give a call.

nathanielbossi@yahoo.com
774-212-0301

Hi Nathaniel,

great - your interest is much appreciated. I will keep you posted as to what is happening - the Scantling notice should come out soon and I'm interested to see what happens from there.

I would ask you to give some thought to what your goals and needs are in regards to studying Japanese carpentry and participating in this study group. The more that people have a clear idea of what their direction is, the easier it will be to shape the study group to meet as many peoples needs as possible.

I would be particularly interested in proportion, ornamental joinery (w/ practical applications in furniture making etc.) I could also go over fundamentals (sharpening, plane technique.) If you are leaning towards roof systems, then that would be great. I also have another t.f. fellow that is very interested.

Nathaniel

Those topics will be dealt with in great detail, and the focus is on roof structural systems. I will be in touch.

Your study group caught my eye. My husband, Iwao Nakajima, is a Miyadaiku, now residing in New York. Back in the late 80's he designed aand built a temple at the Peace Pagoda in Leverett. Sadly, the beautiful little peice was torched. "Gen" is still very much active and is an enthusiastic teacher. With more than 40 years of service to this endangered craft and complete devotion he is recognized as "Torio". I suggest he may be a
valuable resource. He would like to know more about your efforts. E-dress above or call 631 724 3441.

Hello again Ms. Nakajima,

I don't know if you recall or not, but we were in touch on e-mail, and at least one phone call, a couple of years ago, when I was previously living in Leverett. I've since spent a couple of years back on Vancouver Island, and now I'm back here in Leverett again, planning to stay.

It would be great if your husband was interested in being involved with the study group. His knowledge would be most appreciated and would benefit everyone tremendously I'm sure.

I phoned the number you provided and left a message, so I look forward to being in touch.

Cheers,


Chris

Well, here's an update.

I did make phone contact with 123Gen, by phone and later with an email, but have heard nothing since. Hopefully 123Gen will reappear!

I put out a group e-mail message to the 13 or 14 people who have expressed interest so far. I decided to set an admission bar, of sorts, by requiring that any prospective member first have completed the hopper and sawhorse, as I detailed in TFG #78 and #79, before they can commence roof layout study. This ensures that all participating members will be roughly on the same page. Japanese layout is not an easy field of study, and you've got to be pretty determined and motivated to get into it, so I've set a couple of small projects that serve as a sort of river to cross before taking the plunge.

Meetings are likely to be happening on a 2 month interval. Location is still not finalized, and in fact may vary between meetings.

Once we get started on a new roofing model, which will probably take, given a meeting frequency of 8 weeks, most of the year to complete, new members will have to wait and work on getting their hopper and sawhorse done. Then, when it's time for the group to start a new model, any new members can hop in at that point. This is how things are envisioned at this early juncture anyhow. I want to keep the study group alive and growing, and providing learning challenges to all members while still allowing room for new people to join in at convenient times.

That's all for now,

Chris

Hi Chris,
I'm building a Japanese garden gate in the Yamaga style for Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie, Oregon... just finishing up the joinery and should have it erected May 21. I may be starting a Kirizuma style shelter for a statue at the monastery entrance later this summer... and have a lot of questions on structure as the shelter will have 4 posts - unlike the gate with only 2. The gate is my first venture into posts, purlins, and joinery... SCARY!! but so intersting to learn. With the shelter, I really need help on the structure - traditional, not western interpretations, and pictures or photo's would help a lot.

wskelley,

sure, I'll help you out. Let me know the specific questions when you have them.

~Chris

Hi Chris,
I'll be headed up to the monastery in the morning to work on the Yamaga gate all week and will return on May 5. I should know a little more about the Pavilion project and have some startup questions for you - probably in the area of Proportions & structural parts.

- Bill

Does the Japanese Carpentry Study group still exist?

Hi Raphael,

that's a good question! I have been waiting for months to see if a large enough group of people could form. I set a couple of small projects (hopper and a sawhorse) for people to complete on their own before any study group meetings would be held, with the idea being that completion of the two projects would put participants on the same page more or less at the outset. So far, 9 or 10 months later, only one person has completed both projects, and a couple have completed the hopper. These are not, i might add, hugely complex or time-absorbing projects, though the sawhorse is far from simple.

Not enough to get the thing going as of yet it would seem. I am wondering if it might have been better to take another approach, like offering a couple of weekend workshops or something like that, instead of setting self-study based projects....

Anyhow, are you interested in participating? If so, I can forward the information to you on the hopper and sawhorse projects, but I can't guarantee that this thing will actually get off the ground. It's a little discouraging so far, but I remain hopeful that eventually something will happen. all it needs is 6~8 people committed to the thing and it would fly I'm sure.

Cheers,

Chris

I definitely interested (and I really need to build more sawhorses). Scheduling could be problematic as I'm usually working when other people are free.

Raphael,

PM sent.

~Chris

Hello - is this group still in existence? I know that I'm interested and could probably find a few others to join me, if you're still looking. Personally, I'm looking for anything and everything that I can get involved with, especially concerning traditional Japanese carpentry. Thanks!
Jen

Hello Jen,

nice to hear of your enthusiasm! I'm still 'looking' for people, passively I suppose, however after trying to get the study group off the ground the year before last things pretty much ground to a halt after 12 months. It seemed difficult to get to the point of critical mass, though at one point there were 15 or 16 people indicating their interest. Then they basically dropped out of sight and in the end I was left with just a couple of folks who had the time for it and were still keen to get involved. That wasn't enough to get going with unfortunately. Further, I set a couple of small projects which were intended to get all participants on the same relative starting point, and after one year's wait, only 3 people had managed to complete that first project, and just one had done the second.

Japanese carpentry requires a lot of commitment to study, plain and simple.

How have you come to your interest in the topic Jen?

On my blog I have recently made available the first couple of volumes on the Art of Japanese Carpentry Drawing, which are for sale through Ebay (the link is on my blog's main page), and I am also looking to get involved in a couple of programs at Heartwood School, so there is some discussion in that regard. I may also be doing a presentation for the Japan Society of Boston in March of this year, which would be in your neck of the woods.

The material covered in volume II of my book forms the requirement for the first project. This is a project that can be completed in an afternoon.

I'm ready to jump out of the gate and off to the races with the study group at any time, but it needs at least 5~6 people ready to jump with me, and so far that hasn't happened. I remain hopeful, but haven't been actively pursuing this for the past few months. I can lead the horse to water (perhaps!) but, well, you know the rest.

That, in a nutshell, is where things stand at the moment.

~Chris

Hello all,

after much rumination, I have elected to take the study group format online, to see if that might provide a solution for those with time/financial constraints (and don't we all have those?) that would make it difficult to participate in an actual get-together group setting.

You can, if you like, read more about the new format here:

Online Carpentry Study Group

Hope you can make it!

~Chris