Japanese jointery question

Re: Japanese jointery question

Wiley Horne--Glendora CA

>Hi Scott,

Congratulations on the book! Sounds great. Who is the author?

Japanese Temple Carpentry. The book 'The Complete Japanese Joinery' , Sato and Nakahara, looks in depth at the classic construction methods, and the joints that were used. These joints are very complex--the temple is like a big piece of furniture. The complexity of the joints is, at least in my reading, matched only by Chinese furniture joints. Many of the temple carpentry joints feature pins or keys, pins running through the joint, whereas keys are sort of like wedges which are placed once the joint is together, and lock it up. However, these pins and keys tend to be square or rectangular, and you don't think 'dowel' or 'drill' when you see them. The ways which receive the pins and keys are mainly sawed and/or chiseled.

Sato and Nakahara do show awls and gimlets as standard carpentry tools. Some of these are triangular or squarish in section.

Japanese Furniture. The book 'Traditional Japanese Furniture', by Kazuko Koizumi, illustrates the joints used in making furniture, which are far less elaborate than the temple carpentry joints. One thing she brings out is that the carcass of the traditional Japanese chest (tansu) is typically joined with box joints, where each long grain face is pinned. I have read elsewhere that the typical pin would be bamboo. She doesn't say what tool is used to pilot for the pins in the tansu, but it's not much of a stretch to imagine it would be an awl or gimlet as shown in Sato and Nakahara.

From what I can read, the closest I can find to a dowel or floating tenon would be a pin or key, which is a different concept entirely. Similarly, the closest thing I can find to a drill is an awl or gimlet. Maybe someone else knows different, but it appears your thesis is correct.

Of course, I don't think any of us would be surprised if we went to a Japanese construction site tomorrow morning and saw lots of cordless drills, but that's a different story.

Like to hear more about the book.

Wiley

It's the first one you said...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Complete Japanese Joinery by Yasuo Nakahara, Paul Nii (Translator), Hideo Sato (Contributor).