Overview: No other author has described the species, uses and grades of timber used in Japanese woodworking like Mechtild Mertz. Azby Brown is a widely published author and authority on Japanese architecture, design, and environment, whose groundbreaking writings on traditional Japanese carpentry, compact housing, and traditional sustainable practices are recognized as having brought these fields to the awareness of Western designers and the general public. Len Brackett, rigorously trained as a temple carpenter in Kyoto, has spent decades adapting the ancient Japanese design aesthetic to Western needs. There’s a lot of mystique surrounding Japanese carpentry and temple construction, and for good reason.

Japanese Joinery showcases traditional and modern joinery techniques through beautiful photography and detailed technical illustrations. However, Brown does a fine job of attempting the lead the reader through the process of the Japanese carpenter, and of the construction process itself, and it is truly fascinating.He retired in 2017 from the Kanazawa Institute of Technology, where he founded the Future Design Institute, and is currently on the sculpture faculty of Musashino Art University in Tokyo. I just cut off the tip of my ring finger (left hand) in a carpentry accident, and this would be a GREAT book to read while waiting for the graft to heal completely… it will probably be a couple months until I can ‘wood’ again, and I LOVE Japanese woodworking. The Japanese culture has consistently created not only works of art in architecture, but a lasting, stable, functional, and durable structure that is purpose designed. This book, first published in 1995, is a detailed how-to guide that answers a lot of questions about how carpentry is practiced in contemporary Japan.

This work is not simply a description of the features of the Japanese house, but "an invitation to probe the possibilities of utilizing this architectural achievement of the Japanese . Overview: A great book detailing the rich history of Japanese hand tools and their importance in Japanese culture. The beauty of the temples alone is enough to respect them but I would love to have an inside look at the construction in this book. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The Art of Japanese Joinery is his first book and is an amalgamation of his knowledge and talent in joinery.

If you have any interest in carpentry, timber framing, woodworking, or even Japanese history, I highly recommend this book. The knowledge inside has to be totally fascinating and would open my consciousness to a whole new world. This book has so much potential for learning and understanding why their way of building works for them and to build here in the same manner with the same techniques.

I have seen hints that Japanese carpentry has, for centuries, mastered this intersection and I would love to learn more about Japanese carpentry and integrate what I learn into my creations! This book is a classic and is a beautifully informative excerpt from the author’s longer and more extensive The Japanese House: A Tradition for Contemporary Architecture which is long out of print. If you're looking for a book on traditional Japanese building construction then it falls short, too. Overview: A must-read to learn about the most venerated wood craftsman in Japan: Tsunekazu Nishioka.Overview: A lovely visual book leaning more towards the aesthetics of each joint rather than for a practical woodworker wishing to make them or wanting to know where to use them.