Over the course of the last two years I have received grants from three different foundations that should allow me to return to Japan and participate in my fifth apprenticeship: this time with one of the last boat builders of Okinawa. This chain of islands was, for most of its history, a distinct kingdom and to this day enjoys a reputation for a very unique culture with important differences with mainland Japan. In boat building, the traditional fishing boat is called the sabani, and these boats descended relatively recently from dugout canoes. In the west we would call them semi dugouts, with partially carved bottoms to which planking is added. One of many elements that interest me is the method of fastening the planking. Okinawan boat builders use wooden butterfly keys to edge fasten the planking. These keys are inserted half the depth of the plank, spanning the seam, and alternate from both the inside and outside of the hull. I had seen this technique used by a boat builder making semi dugouts in Ishikawa Prefecture on the Sea of Japan, and I have also met a boat builder on the Agano River in Niigata Prefecture that used this method. I was very eager to study with the latter craftsman and learn how to use these fastenings, but he became too ill to work. Now, years later, I hope to get my chance, and also learn what must be many other differences between Okinawan and Japanese boats.

As of this writing, the hope is that I will go to Okinawa mid-November, 2009 and begin building an eight meter sabani with one of perhaps just three surviving traditional boat builders.