Staging – Japanese Joinery Timber Frame Construction – House No. 1 – Part 3 in Hayama, Japan

Japanese House No. 1 – Timber Frame Construction Series – “Tatemae” – January 2021

In this series, we are in Hayama, Japan where we are participating in a new Japanese house build. The house design is a mix of traditional Japanese carpentry set on top of a modern concrete slab. This was done as per the request of the client and architect who decided on this style. The house is situated on a hillside overlooking picturesque Hayama.

House Information:

Land Area: ~310 sq. meters (~94 tsubo) (~3337 sq. feet)
Building Area: ~120 sq. meters (~36 tsubo) (~1292 sq. feet)
Total Living Area: ~102 sq. meters (~31 tsubo) (~1098 sq. feet)

The house has a living room/dining/kitchen open plan, 2 bedrooms with additional guest room, toilet room with vanity, washer/dressing room, Japanese split shower with bathtub, and an attached wooden deck.

In Part 3 of the House No. 1 build, we are staging the rest of the wood for the Tatemae (建前) that will happen very soon. There is always a big build up at the work site on the days leading up to the Tatemae. Tensions are pretty high and the stress levels can be elevated. There is a lot of pressure on the carpenters to make sure everything is correct and all the pieces are there. A missing piece or an incorrectly cut part can cause a big slow down in the process. We learn a little about chemical anchors and how the deck posts will be installed in this house. The posts for the decking will not be fastened down to the stones, instead they will be set over threaded rods which will be enough to prevent any side to side shift.

This episode does not show much technical information, however, we have a chat with the CEO and Founder of Fujimoto Traditional Carpentry, Ryo Fujimoto. He tells us about where, what, and why he builds traditional homes vs. the modernized “scrap and build” style construction predominately found throughout Japan. We would have to agree that garbage in Japan is a big problem. With industrialization and modernization happening for the last 70 years, there has been a lot of throw away products that end up collecting on this tiny island nation. This is not only a problem in Japan, but in other places of the world which are going through the same cycle of industrialization and modernization. It is interesting to listen to the carpenter’s stories and why they decided to do this type of work and construction. Most Japanese carpenters share the same feelings about building a quality product that will last a long time and be healthy for the environment. Stay tuned for Part 4 where we see the culmination of all the hard work performed for the last 3 months.

Special Thanks to:
Fujimoto Traditional Carpentry Company (https://ryofujimoto.com/)
Instagram: @ftc5610 @ryo5610
#woodworking #japanesewoodworking #carpentrylife
Videographers and Editing:
K. Yamashita / G. Leopardi / F. Ogasawara

Equipment Used:
Olympus OMD EM-1 Mark iii (4k)
Sony ZV Log Camera (4k)
Apple iPhone 10 (4k)
Rode VideoMic NTG (Audio)

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