Japanese woodworking.

[safetyturtle]

I'm in the process of setting up a little workshop of my own that will make it possible for me to do armour work and carpentry and I'm trying to look into some of the wood elements involved in Japanese armour.

I'm trying to find some info regarding the Kabuto and Gusoku stands as well as the armour chest.
I've already looked at Sengoku Daimyo ofcause but the guide there seems to be focused on fairly modern usage and I'm more interested in finding out how those items were made historically.

So what I'm hoping someone here can help me out with is to point me in the right direction of where I mind find info regarding the historical construction of the stands and armour chest...I've tried to do a little googling myself but haven't come up with much so any help is high appreciated!

[Deleted]

Sept 20, 2015 2:04:18 GMT -5 safetyturtle said:

So what I'm hoping someone here can help me out with is to point me in the right direction of where I mind find info regarding the historical construction of the stands and armour chest...I've tried to do a little googling myself but haven't come up with much so any help is high appreciated!

I don't know much at all about the stands, but I've looked into "gusoku bitsu" a little bit. Are you considering one of the square-footprint tall chests, or one of the footed "karabitsu" types?

My go-to book on historical woodworking is always Traditional Japanese Furniture; A Definitive Guide by Kazuko Koizumi (Kodansha International, 1989 (although I believe there is a more recent printing)). For the most part, this book indicates that joinery was pretty simple for common items (by which I mean not fancy household items or ritual items). For the corners, these diagrams show basic "box" joints with very large (several inches tall) fingers. These are even secured with fasteners, though I'm not sure if these are nails or pegs.

I tried to be traditional with my cypress karabitsu, which I even made with hand tools.

This one is about as big as I can go with the lumber I had readily available, though. Not quite big enough for a set of armor. To go bigger with standard lumber you might have to make some edge-glued panels.

[safetyturtle]

Thought was to go with the simple box one, maybe add some brass fittings.

What type of wood to use is one of the things I'm unsure of...the guide on Sengoku Daimyo mentions pine for the stands because it's cheap and easy to come by, so dosn't really sound like it was used historical.
And for the box it mentions plywood...but I would prefere using solid wood instead as you have done.

I'll see if I can get my hands on that book, looks like it's something I need in my collection.

[Deleted]

Sept 20, 2015 8:39:24 GMT -5 safetyturtle said:

What type of wood to use is one of the things I'm unsure of.

You probably won't be surprised to hear that the book I referenced has a chapter on techniques and a section on materials. The main problem with trying to replicate Japanese work in North America is that even if you know where to get some of the types of wood mentioned, the North American varieties of those trees are not be the same as the Asian/Japanese varieties. I try to not let this bother me too much.

"The book" lists cypress, cedar, zelkova, paulownia, mulberry, chestnut, and horse chestnut as the most common types of wood in traditional Japanese furniture. For clarity, I like to refer to the Japanese varieties of these woods by their Japanese names of hinoki, sugi, keyaki, kiri, kuwa, kuri, and tochi. The only two I have been able to acquire reasonably easily from lumber places in my local area are cypress and cedar. I could probably get paulownia and chestnut if I searched harder or was willing to pay more or drive further.

The book says that sugi was used for all kinds of things, from small household objects to large construction. I can get reasonable pieces of 1-by (from 1x2 up to 1x8) red cedar at the local big-box, since it is often used for decks and outdoor furniture. I've been able to get 4x4 and 2x4 for beefier construction at better yards. The main difficulty with cedar is that your tools need to be very sharp to cut cleanly without tearing, and the resulting project can get banged up easily. It's strong enough to walk or sit on, though. If you go to some of the higher-class wood places you might be able to get "Port Orford Cedar", which is close enough to sugi that it is often imported to Japan as a lower-cost substitute for sugi.

[safetyturtle]

I'm gonna pick up that book without a doubt, seems like something I need!

I still haven't found a good place to buy wood around here, seems they mostly have pine.