How To Build A Boat In Japan

An ancient tradition of wooden boatbuilding is facing extinction, but one American is trying to document the craft before it disappears

- Douglas Brooks

Growing up in a small town on the Connecticut River, my family has always had boats. My father was a house carpenter and a barn full of tools was an essential childhood playground. During college I attended the Williams College Mystic Seaport programme, a one-term undergraduate course at Mystic, where I had the opportunity of doing an internship with one of Seaport’s boatbuilders and I got my first taste of the craft. After graduation I would eventually return to boatbuilding as a career.

Much of my work as a boatbuilder in the United States has involved collaborating with museums and municipalities, building replicas of traditional boats as public demonstrations. These projects involve researching traditional boat designs and teaching, as well as boatbuilding. I enjoy the varied aspects of this type of work, appreciating working with my hands as well as engaging the public in a teaching role, and writing about my projects. I also build custom boats for clients and have been involved in restorations of wooden vessels from a Canadian skiff to a three-masted schooner.

The most significant turn in my professional life occurred in 1990 when I accepted the invitation of my college roommate to visit his native country of Japan. On that first trip I met several boatbuilders, and became exposed to a world of craft both mysterious and alluring. I met craftsmen who possessed extraordinary skills, yet also discovered the craft was only transmitted via an ancient apprentice system. I say ancient because the apprentice system exemplified in Japan had disappeared generations ago in the United States. Where I had access to hundreds of drawings of traditional boats of my own culture, in Japan the craft was accessible only via individual crafts people, each jealously guarding what they knew.