I was invited to build a boat as the centerpiece of an exhibition on Japanese boatbuilding at the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum in Kobe. When the curator asked me what type of boat I would build I mentioned the isobune of Iwate Prefecture. This was the coast devastated by the 2011 tsunami and the isobune was the most common type of boat in the region. In 2015 I had apprenticed with the last active builder of these boats (see the Isobune page under Japanese Boats at this site). I felt strongly given the disaster that this was a boat that had relevance for all Japanese.

Boats called isobune can be found the length of the Tohoku coastline. However there is a visible evolution of the design, from Aomori to Miyagi Prefectures. In Iwate the boats have a very straightforward construction with a box-like cross section. Nevertheless the steeply raked stem and various details gives these boats an elegant feel. Mr. Hiroshi Murakami, my teacher in Iwate, had developed innovative methods using power tools to speed up what is traditionally hand tool work. He and his father worked under extreme financial pressures and were always trying to find ways to build boats more efficiently.

Takenaka Corporation is one of the largest construction companies in Japan, with an entire department devoted to temple reconstruction. They maintain their own log pond and sawmill and the cedar for this boat was selected from their inventory. It was perhaps the most phenomenal material I have ever worked with, incredibly wide planks, completely knot-free. I decided to forgo some of Murakami san’s innovative techniques and used strictly traditional methods in light of the exhibition. I led four Saturday boatbuilding seminars for the public during the course of the project, which were filled to capacity.