Traditional Japanese Carpentry School – Daikushijuku – Final Project – Itakura House Build – Part 1
In this video, we are back in Kannamachi, Gunma, Japan at the Daikushijuku, a school to learn Traditional Japanese Carpentry. We get a chance to learn more carpentry and also help out with building a very traditional Japanese house in the style of Itakura and Ishibadate. These two construction styles are complex and beautiful.
In an Itakura House the walls are made of Sugi, or Japanese Cedar. These walls are thin compared to modern homes. The thickness is 30mm and there is no insulation. However, the health and comfort aspects of a house made entirely of wood is hard to beat. it is surprising that with limited insulating quality the house is surprisingly cool in the summer and warm in the winter with the installed wood stove. It is a house designed to showcase how healthy it can be to live in an entirely wood house. The cedar is useful for absorbing odors, VOCs, and even humidity. The most notable thing is probably the humidity control capability of an all wood house.
The Ishibadate style features building a house on top of stones which is very common in Japan as a building style. Most temple construction is designed this way and there is a reason for this. in an earthquake prone country building on top of stones enables the house to move and not bind up and endure too much stress from being fixed or bolted to a concrete slab. We would also say that building on top of stones makes for a more friendly house renovating ability. It is easier to crawl under the house in the event something needs to be replaced or changed. This aspect is a very nice feature for those that are handy enough to handle a majority of their own house maintenance.
So, let’s get into it with Part 1 of this unique build!
#woodworking #japanesewoodworking #carpentrylife #timberframe
11 Comments
Great series! Learning a lot about Japanese carpentry. Looking forward to the next episodes. Could you ask the master carpenter why the crosscuts are most often done first, before the rip cuts? That question has been hounding me for years…
Love it 🙌🙌🙌
Eagerly awaiting the next episode. Great videos, too.
Why ain’t they using more power tools ?
Hello i'm from Vietnamese
12” = 304.8mm.
Love your videos! I've been going over a lot of them many times, pausing, zooming in, trying to get a sense of how things are put together. I have my own bandsaw mill – I started off sawing for myself but I have a mobile sawmilling business now too out in BC, Canada. Whenever I see timber framing in Japan (like in your videos) I notice the timbers are very clean, straight, and square looking. Before the carpenters start cutting joints, are all the timbers planed into perfect squareness? Of course when the douglas fir comes off my sawmill, it's pretty much square and straight, but after seasoning for a little while it starts to move a bit, usually expressing a slight twist or a bow, and you have to take this into account as you're cutting the joints. I'd love to know more about the processing involved as the wood goes from log to finished product over there. Thanks again for these great videos!
Hello, I am planning on visiting Inami, near Naoto, Toyama and I heard that town is know for its wood carvers. If you have any info on that area could you please let me know. Thank you
Hello, thank you for sharing. Is that possible to a French Carpenter to study Japanese woodworking ? Or I have to speak Japanese ?
Would really like to learn in more detail about the principles of sumitsuke, but grateful for learning about the reference stick already. Any video material you can recommend on detailed japanese woodworking for enitre large builds like this by any chance?
Thank you for letting me share your dream and inspired by the strategy you conjured up to realise it; I imagine you try to financially support yourself by these videos.
🙏🏻
Becoming a carpenter seems to be no choice of career for japanese girls? I'm just wondering. Here in germany are nowadays quite a few girls in woodworking. Btw. love your content!