Hello Jay,

You know, For this to make any sense at all I think we would have to be more on a similar plane of thought. We would have to agree, in the first case just what it is at the core of the contention because for my part, though it would appear otherwise the way you have contextualized it, it is not a question of an all inclusive survey of Japanese architecture and construction techniques. It could be a question though of what is Japanese carpentry and when can a technique or aspect of it be considered Japanese or what is the Japaneseness of a particular aspect. These are more the parameters of where I am concerning this particular thread, you know, that I find more pointed and where something meaningful might be the outcome instead of the point counter point, you said he said routine because otherwise it will just be a matter or me repeating myself and not getting anywhere. Were there such a consensus, then relating it back to say, draw boring in this case, maybe that would be more interesting. And then my position would be something like the following: That the existence of examples of this technique doesn't qualify it as representative or something we could call Japanese. That in order for that to be the case there would have to be, for one, widespread use, that is to say that it was a technique that carpenters commonly used or used on a standard basis. Equally as important, that the means of producing it with reasonable effort were readily at hand and that there was a need for its use or it fulfilled a function that couldn't be dealt with more effectively otherwise. You see where I'm going, I think. It comes down to the old necessary and sufficient argument. It may be so that I have climbed a mountain once or even many times, but does that mean that I can claim to be a mountaineer?

Ultimately, as I have thought about it, and maybe you will see it otherwise, there is a great deal of subjectivity either way. You, and others, say examples of draw boring are found in contemporary and historical Japanese buildings, so draw boring is Japanese. I say it may be that there are instances of draw boring throughout Japanese carpentry but it's not characteristic and wouldn't call it Japanese.

Since you ask, the specific passage from Zwerger about the relationship between the ability to drill holes with a drill and the centrality of parallel sided peg use is: Wood and Wood Joints..., p 122.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff