Amateur boat building in Japan

Do many people build boats in Japan? Well, it depends on how you define "many". Are the numbers of amateur builders increasing? - Yes they are. I know three new studios [workshops - Ed.] that have started teaching canoe building in the last year. Last week I received a letter from an amateur canoe builder who has just built a beautiful sailing strip canoe. He is an engineer, a self-taught builder (he used Ted Moore's book on strip canoes), and seeking further information exchanges. For lapstrake builders, There's a site called GL-labo, which also had been introduced in this site. The most popular amateur-built boat in Japan? Probably the canoe. Dinghies (all small sailing boats are called "dingii" here) are next, some bigger cruisers, but not so many.
And, while I was writing this, I also recieved a phone call from a person in Tokyo who will go to the Wooden Boat School in Maine, USA this year. Definitely, the number of interested boat builders is increasing.

I have learned boat building from many different sources. We do not have a wooden boat school here, nor a builder who can build western style boats in very traditional way. Books have helped me so much: Chapelle, Leather, Macintosh, Gardner... these are the names of my gurus. There is a small blue book by Barry Thomas "Building the Herreshoff Dinghy", that really influenced me (published by Mystic Seaport Museum). It is very small, only 50 pages, about the Herreshoff building process. The book was based on interviews with the last craftsman of Herreshoff Manufacturing, and the experience of building a replica at Mystic Seaport's Small Boat Shop. The book conveys the atmosphere of the time. Between the lines, it also reflects the spirit of craftsman behind the techniques. It is this book that attracted me to this craft, and I translated and published it in Japanese last year. The other book is "Buiding Small Boats" by Gregg Rossel. His explanations are so clear. I referred to it so often it quickly became the dirtiest book on my shelf. It convinced me to take Rossel's class at the Wooden Boat School. His class was excellent. I recommend the school so much because not only are the classes great, they have a fleet of old small sailboats that students can sail after the class time - Beetlecats, Herreshoffs, North Haven Dinghies - available every evening.

Overseas museums are the other great information source. Museums like Mystic Seaport have an internet copy service for their old plans, which is great for foreign builders. I like from mid-19th to early 20th century lake and river boats; Rushtons and Saint Lawrence River Skiffs are my favorite lines. I like lapstrake boats. Their construction emphasizes the beautiful lines of the hull. I like the traditional wood construction and copper fastenings as well. You do not worry about chemicals, setting times and temperatures, sanding dust... it is a peaceful way to build.

Though the Japnese carpentry tools are in my toolbox, there's nothing inherently superior about Japanese tools. I like western planes very much and I have a bandsaw and router too. Spokeshaves are must-have tools for me, and there's nothing like the spokeshave among traditional Japanese tools.

Having said that, Japan is still a heavenly place for the hand-tool enthusiast, hand-forged chisels and planes are still common in the market. As you might know, the blades of these tools have two layers: hard steel and soft iron. They cut very well and are easy to sharpen. Their honed edges last quite long (which is good for lazy people). Some of them are very expensive, some use ancient steel for cutting edge. There are even blacksmiths who prize early 20th Century British ship anchor chain for its soft iron. There is a group of plane devotees who organize annual shaving competitions: I remember a top record of 5 to 6 micron, and 60 meter-long continuous shaving.

The wood we use for planks in Japan is usually sugi or hinoki. Sugi is like red-cedar, hinoki is white. Hinoki is translated as "Japanese cypress" but I feel it is much like eastern white cedar. It smells the same and the leaves look alike. The timber is very stong and steam bends beautifully. Wasen (the term for a Japanese traditional boat) builders also use same materials. By the way, I have heard that traditional Japanese river boats have no paint, their one inch thick planks become thinner year-by-year, about one millimeter a year, to their thickness can show the lifetime of the boat.