You can access tutorial videos, downloadable PDF files that include diagrams of each joint, plans, written notes, and a dictionary of Japanese woodworking (in the future).

Our courses are geared towards beginners like you, and no prior knowledge of Japanese woodworking is required. Also our courses are designed to allow you to learn step by step, all the way from an introduction of the basic tools to learning projects.

You can expect to acquire sufficient knowledge and skills related to the followings:

Sorry you can not download the videos. They are available only for streaming. There is no limit of downloading plans and diagrams.

We don't know because we are still learning too.

Japanese woodworking can be categorized into two parts, actually. One is to first form a frame by joining elongated objects such as posts and beams, and then fill the space in between with a panel or something similar. This is the typical method for building a building.

The other way is to join several panels together. This method can build the walls straight away so you don't need to "fill in the space". This technique is popular more in furniture making.

In our courses, you will learn the first technique. But in the future, we have a plan to hold the Sashimono courses, too.

Japanese woodworking and joinery is the wisdom of how to coax freewheeling solid wood, and make things as intended. Therefore, its target is only solid wood.

Yes. Although there is a limited opportunity for this technique to be adopted as it requires significant time and cost, this is an active technique that is still actually used.

No. There are excellent joinery techniques in China, Korea, Europe and North America too, and there are amazing craftsmen who have inherited it. The only thing we don't have might be patrons who support these craftsmen.

There are no machines yet that can cut complicated joints, though we have some that can cut simpler joints such as the dovetail. However, it takes time to set them up, so doing this by hand will be faster unless you repeat the same things.

Well, this is a bit of a scandalous question, because the media has been focusing a little too much on this point. The answer is yes and no.

Let me explain the nails first. For the main structural parts, for example, posts and beams, or the legs and rails of pieces of furniture, no nails or screws are used. There are 2 reasons for this. The first reason is that if the metals get rusted, the wooden part that is making contact with the metals will start rotting too.

Secondly, joining the parts only by nails and screws will not make a final piece that is strong enough. For the main part that will have a strong force applied to it, the joinery techniques are much more durable.

However, for parts other than the main structural part, such as floor board installation or the invisible back part of the drawer, stainless steel nails or wooden nails, and even some glue are often used.

Therefore, strictly speaking, it's not true that no nails or glue are used in traditional Japanese woodworking. But there is no doubt that it is much more fun to make things using only joinery techniques.

Ok, I will explain about glue here as I've already explained the nails in the above question.

Today, we have many different kinds of glue. Some of them are so useful and will make your woodworking efficient. Glue works effectively especially when joining plywood or MDF. It is almost impossible to peel off once it sticks. Other parts would be broken if you tried to force it. They are that strong.

However, solid wood does not work like plywood or MDF, because solid wood is breathing and moving all the time. Ignoring this movement and gluing them firmly just like plywood and MDF will result in the energies inside concentrating toward the weakest point. This will appear as big cracks and twists.

Japanese woodworking and joinery involve a technique that developed in order to have good control of solid wood that keeps moving all the time.

Let me first clear up a misunderstanding. Although this website mainly features hand tool skills for woodworking, I have no intention of saying that you should do these things by hand forever, nor that machines and power tools must be strictly prohibited forever. Luckily or not, I am not that stoic of a person. It's nonsense to do everything all by hand, considering situation where there are many remarkable machines and power tools available in the world.

Even so, however, practicing only by hand will be very helpful in bringing out your great potential, especially at the beginning. When I just started my apprenticeship, we (there were a few of us fresh apprentices) were not allowed to use power tools. This was our master's policy. It was not until I obtained proper skills using hand tools that I finally got permission to use power tools and machines. After this experience, I can tell you with confidence that practicing only by hand at the beginning really does work.

The following process will explain the reason why.

1. Different kinds of timber have unique timber grains. If you try to cut or shave against the flow of the grain, it will not only be painful, but also, the finish will be poor after all the effort and expense. I can guarantee that your master will be upset with the outcome. However, above all, it's dangerous, as you have to use extra pressure to cut it.

2. To avoid this (not meaning to avoid the master's anger!), you need to learn how to interpret the timber grains, and by doing handwork, you can gain firsthand experience in learning how to do this. There is, for example, the moment when the chisel is about to cut deeper than you expect, or you will find unusual resistance when planing, or the saw will be forced to go to in unanticipated directions as you are cutting along the grain (rip cutting), etc. By repeating these actions over and over, your body will naturally learn how the timber grains are running, as well as the right direction for the cutting edges to go to.

3. Once you have reached this level, you should be able to use machines efficiently, safely and accurately without overworking them. Now you can create almost everything you want.

These techniques are also adopted to hardwood like oak, chestnut, persimmon etc. Osaka Karaki Sashimono is one kind of sashimono craft but it's specialised in using exotic hardwood like rosewood, ebony, Bombay black wood and Burma padauk (sorry I'm not sure if this is the correct name).

Only the difference between softwood and hardwood might be its finish. While for soft wood “plane finish” (to finish the timber surface by planing only) is most common and popular, for hardwood it is often seen to sand and put oil, lacquer, polyethylene after planing.

We can supply some tools actually. Please visit here.

We know it’s a big investment. Woodworking is an expensive hobby. We can also supply basic tools for beginners. Please visit here to view them.

I believe they are enough to start woodworking. I can recommend them with confidence as I am using most of them myself.

What you don’t want the most is to buy cheap shit (sorry!) from your local DIY shop. It will end up being waste of money. Many of my face-to-face class students brought tools at the first session which they got from a local DIY shop. Yes really many of them. This is understandable because they are not sure at the first session whether woodworking can become their part of life. But in the end most of those students replaced the tools with the ones I recommend. They were all surprised by the difference in quality. Quality tools make woodworking fun. Low quality tools will only make woodworking stressful.

I said “most of those students replaced the tools”. So what happened to those who stuck to the original tools? All of them stopped coming to the class. They wasted money not only for tools but also tuition fees. How sad. I never want you to make the same mistakes.

If the recommended beginners’ tools explained in the above question are too much investment for you to start, you want to obtain at least;

If you already have some Western-style tools, e.g. chisels and hand planes, there is no need to replace them with Japanese tools right off the bat. You can slowly replace them one by one when you’re able to. But if you have no or few tools at this time, and you are willing to start buying some, then I would highly recommend starting off with Japanese tools. This is because most of the tools I am using in the videos are Japanese-style tools, and I spend a considerable amount of time explaining how to use and tune them.

On the other hand, regarding hand saws, I strongly recommend starting off with Japanese saws. The reason for this and the advantages of Japanese saws are fully explained in the videos.

Yes. Japanese woodworking tools must be final tuned by owners. This concept is based on an idea that each tool should perfectly fit to individual preferences and tendencies.

Final tuning of chisels generally includes:

And final tuning of planes generally includes:

Don’t get overwhelmed. Each process is thoroughly explained and demonstrated in our videos.

Maybe in the future.

White paper steel is carbon steel. Blue paper is made by adding other materials such as chrome and nickel to the carbon steel. It is said that blue paper is relatively harder compared to white paper so you might feel sharpening a blade made of blue paper is a bit hard. And it’ll take more time to remove chipped part of the blade that is made of blue paper.

However, the difference is subtle, so I personally hardly notice it. My favourite hand plane is made of blue paper, but I’ve never felt hard when I sharpen it. Rather, I feel the blade fits well the surface of the sharpening stone.

For both chisels and planes, it is said, generally, for relatively soft wood 26-28 degrees is best, and 28-30 degrees is ideal for hardwood. Technically, for planes, these angles vary depending on the angle at which the blade is set in the body. For a normal blade set angle which is 8/10 slope, the above degrees will work.

Most Japanese hand planes are made at 8/10 slope (the angle of the bed). The point is it is not easy to completely stop tear out occurring on the hardwood surface with this slope even if you sharpened your blade at 30 degrees. So some people custom order one with 8.5/10, 9/10 or 10/10 slope.

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