Japanese Wood Joinery

Japanese wood joinery, known as Kumiko, is a traditional process of construction that only uses wood. No nails or glue or any other type of connection, just the precise cutting of groves into the wood, friciton and tension. The joints can barely be seen from the outside and are strong, proven to hold for hundreds of generations. 

There are hundred of different joinery techniques and styles that have been passed down through generations, echoing the power of only using natural materials. Simplicity is key! As a practice we believe using these methods of joinery witll continue on our ethods of 'always maintaing a sustainable approach and bringing nature into areas that need it'.  

The joints are difficult to understand through drawings so wood worker @shigeruban decided to create GIF's to demonstrate how the pieces of wood slot together. Below are some examples of his work.

Kawai-tsugite

No Name

Shachisen-tsugi-shikuchi-no-shihousashi

Due to the joints being so hard to understand through drawings, the Japense methods remained within Japan and family generations and has only recently begun to spread across the world with the help of the internet, YouTube and the GIFs. Therefore people are still learning the intricate, detailed and beautiful joints making the type of work is limited to none in the UK. There will be a knock on affect in the production time due to the detail of the joints, human error and therefore also affecting the cost of the exhibition. 

We decided to look at some more applicable Japanese joinery methods (that aren't so intricate) that could be applied to our exhibition. Below are the two we think would work best for our design, however there are more intircate options such as the Dovetail Joint and Sampo- Zashi.

Mortise and Tenon Joint

The mortise (shown in yellow) is where the tenon (blue) is inserted. The joint has been used internationally for years and is a staple in the wood working industry. It is popular especially when making furniture as the connection is more aethetically pleasing without having nails and bolts used. 

Double and Twin Joint

Similarly to Mortise and Tenon, the double and twin joint slots into the its other part, making it stronger and more stable. This is used for larger scale projects.