Foundation Assembly – Japanese Joinery Timber Frame Construction – House No. 1 – Part 1 in Hayama

Japanese House No. 1 – Timber Frame Construction Series – “Tatemae” – January 2021

In this series, we are in Hayama, Japan where we are participating in a new Japanese house build. The house design is a mix of traditional Japanese carpentry set on top of a modern concrete slab. This was done as per the request of the client and architect who decided on this style. The house is situated on a hillside overlooking picturesque Hayama.

House Information:

Land Area: ~310 sq. meters (~94 tsubo) (~3337 sq. feet)
Building Area: ~120 sq. meters (~36 tsubo) (~1292 sq. feet)
Total Living Area: ~102 sq. meters (~31 tsubo) (~1098 sq. feet)

The house has a living room/dining/kitchen open plan, 2 bedrooms with additional guest room, toilet room with vanity, washer/dressing room, Japanese split shower with bathtub, and an attached wooden deck.

In Part 1 of the House No. 1 build, we introduce some of the common and most critical tools needed for building a traditional Japanese house. We use both a Komisen Kakunomi (コミ栓角のみ) and Normal Kakunomi (角のみ) to drill square holes that are both 15mm and 30mm, respectively. Later in the video you can see how other carpenters know where and how to cut the different joints. Often times the carpenter that does the markings or Sumitsuke (墨付け) is not the same carpenter who will do the joint cutting or Kizami (刻み). In order to communicate where and how to cut, the lead carpenter will write numbers and draw boundary lines for other carpenters to follow. My job was to cut square holes in some of the wood beams for this house.

Also, in this video we learn a few Japanese terms that are often spoken at the workshop and construction site that are important for me to know. We finish day one at the construction site where we did some survey work where we marked out where the base or foundation beams are going to go. These base beams or Ashigatame (足固め) are laid out and eventually anchored to the concrete foundation using thread rods and an anchor nut/washer called Zagane (座金). It is important that this foundation is squared, leveled, and accurate anchored to the millimeter to prevented a compounding problem during the assembly of the pillars, beams, and roof for the rest of the house.

We hope you enjoy this video. Please check out Part 2 of this House No. 1 Series.

Special Thanks to:
Fujimoto Traditional Carpentry Company (https://ryofujimoto.com/)
Instagram: @ftc5610 @ryo5610
#woodworking #japanesewoodworking #carpentrylife
Videographers and Editing:
K. Yamashita / G. Leopardi / F. Ogasawara

Equipment Used:
Olympus OMD EM-1 Mark iii (4k)
Sony ZV Log Camera (4k)
Apple iPhone 10 (4k)
Rode VideoMic NTG (Audio)

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