Japanese carpentry

Japanese carpentry is like building with very specific and fancy legos.

Imagine playing with legos where each piece is uniquely designed to fit together flawlessly without any glue or screws. That's what Japanese carpentry is like!

Japanese carpentry is a very special kind of building that's been around for over a thousand years! It's always made by hand using traditional tools like chisels, saws, and hammers.

The carpenters who make these special buildings are called "miyadaiku" in Japan. They learn their craft through years of apprenticeship, where older and more experienced miyadaiku teach younger ones how to build using the traditional Japanese methods.

One of the things that makes Japanese carpentry so special is how carefully they plan and measure each piece of wood. They'll measure each piece dozens of times to make sure that it's the perfect size for the building!

Another special part of Japanese carpentry is how they use wood joints. These are places where two pieces of wood fit together to make a sturdy building. Japanese carpenters use special joints that they call "kawai-tsugi" or "tsugi-guchi," which means that they fit together like a puzzle.

These buildings are built to last a very long time, often hundreds of years! They take a lot of care and skill to make, but the results are amazing.

So next time you see a fancy Japanese building or traditional Japanese furniture, you'll know that it was made using special tools, wood joints, and lots of planning by miyadaiku carpenters with years of experience.