Apprenticeship in Japan

Very soon after arriving in Japan in 1969, I began to take long walks away from the cities and into the countryside dotted with fields and villages. Meandering pathways led through rural settings with individual homes clustered in distinct groupings along river banks or against hillsides. Even the eyes of a neophyte could quickly see a contrast in scale between the crowded cities and the well-endowed landholdings of the farmers...not just the scale of the houses, but the obvious material abundance of the people as expressed in the details in architecture, the careful upkeep of venerable straw thatching, or the complexity of heavy gray-tiled roofs.

"Pride In Place"

Everywhere my eye settled seemed to carry a confirmation of the pride in place that these villagers took in their family, village, and the simple productive industry of their farms which spread out in myriad flooded rice paddies. Each village was somewhat unique in its style of buildings. In many places every house had its own private storehouse or magnificent topiary display. It wasn’t long before I bought a camera and began taking photos of the tranquil rural scenes, where I would often focus on the variety and complexity of Japanese roof designs.

The Japanese Builder's Logic

From this simple beginning I came to love Japanese culture and eventually found a way to work in Kyoto as an apprentice carpenter. Learning to work with the Japanese tools and measurements put me in touch with the Japanese builder's logic, a systematic language which was slowly revealed through repetition. It includes a basic understanding about building as well as the specific uses of different types of wood.

Roof Designs

My fascination with roof designs and the large structural beams which are used in rural Japanese buildings became the focus of my life, and has continued to occupy most of my professional career over the past thirty years.