Research, Publications & Lectures
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Because my boats have been based on traditional designs all of my projects have required some degree of research. For some it is searching museum collections for appropriate plans, for others I have done field research in places as far-flung as the Orkney Isles of Scotland and rural Japan measuring historic boats and documenting boat building techniques.
In recent years most of my research has focused on traditional boat building in Japan. I have apprenticed since 1996 with nine boat builders there, working alongside them and documenting their design secrets and techniques. This work is crucial, as the last generation of boat builders today is now elderly, and almost none have apprentices. Furthermore, the tradition of secrecy in Japanese crafts is very strong, therefore, boat builders leave almost no written records of their designs. Drawings they do produce often intentionally lack essential information.
One of the most interesting phrases in Japanese crafts is nusumigeikko or "stolen lessons." Most traditional craftsmen can tell stories from their apprenticeships of being forced to "steal" important secrets from their masters. If a teacher was not a family member, very often one's training would be incomplete. The master may have had a need for cheap labor, but they did not need to create a competent competitor.
Without a generation of apprentices the traditions and secrets of Japanese boat building are being lost. I hope to continue to find support for my research and keep documenting the work of these craftsmen. My goal is to interview more boat builders and produce detailed construction drawings of their boats. In this way I hope to preserve this craft; albeit in a way that is a departure from tradition. I have been teaching workshops in Japanese boatbuilding since 2015. I have published articles based on my research since the early 1990's. Read a feature article about my research here. Below are lists of my published work and selected lectures.
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How The Old Fella Done It; Building the Shelburne Dory with Milford Buchanan, co-authored with Brad Dimock and Graham McKay, Dory Heritage Project, Amesbury, MA, USA 2025. Purchase here.
The Cormorant Fishing Boat; A Japanese Craftsman’s Methods, Floating World Editions, Warren, CT, USA 2022. Purchase here.
Building the Nagara River Ubune With Boatbuilder Seiichi Nasu (Funadaiku Nasu Seiichi To Nagaragawa No Ubune Wo Tsukuru), Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, Japan, 2020 (in Japanese and available for free download here).
Japanese Wooden Boatbuilding, Floating World Editions, Monroe, Connecticut, USA, 2015. Purchase here.
Author and co-editor of ayubune, an exhibition monograph published by the Mizunoki Museum of Art, Kameoka, Japan, 2014 (in English and Japanese).
Building Sabani An Okinawan Fishing Boat, Village Press, Kyoto, Japan, 2014 (in Japanese and available for free download here).
Sabani; Building The Traditional Okinawan Fishing Boat (Okinawa no Dentouteki Gyosen; Sabani Kenzou Kiroku), published by the Museum of Maritime Science, Tokyo, Japan, 2011 (in English and Japanese).
The Tub Boats of Sado Island; A Japanese Craftsman's Methods, Kodo Cultural Foundation, Sado Island, Japan, September, 2003. Translated by Chieko Wales. Illustrated with drawings and photographs with a monograph by Mr. Toshio Sato (in English and Japanese). Purchase here.
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“Preserving This Culture, Rebuilding Their Crafts,” Mortise & Tenon, Blue Hill, Maine, No. 17, 2024. Read it here.
“The Meaning in the Silence: Japanese Craft Pedagogy,” Mortise & Tenon, Blue Hill, Maine, No. 14, 2023. Read it here.
“The Last Boatbuilder of the Nagara River,” Mortise & Tenon, Blue Hill, Maine, No. 12, 2022. Read it here.
“Sustaining the Tradition; Building the Nagaragawa Ukaibune,” SEA DREAM, Yokohama, Japan, 2018 (in Japanese). Read it here.
“The Two-Pointers of Dead Creek,” WoodenBoat, No. 250, May/June 2016. Read it here.
“An Apprentice Boatbuilder in Japan,” Kyoto Journal, Kyoto, Japan, No. 84, December 2015. Read it here.
"Rushton’s Sailing Canoes; A Short but Lively History" SEA DREAM, Yokohama, Japan, No. 20 (in Japanese). Read it here.
"Japanese High Schoolers Visit a United States Wooden Boat Building Class" (Nihon no Koukousei-tachi Ga Beikoku no Mokuzou Bouto Seisaku Kyoushitsu Wo Houmon), KAZI, Yokohama, Japan, January, 2015 (in Japanese).
"Maddy Sue, Restoration of an Iconic Maine Picnic Boat" WoodenBoat, No. 238, May/June, 2014. Read it here.
"Restoration of the Picnic Boat Maddy Sue" Sea Dreams, KAZI publications, Yokohama, Japan Volume 17, 2013 (in Japanese). Read it here.
"Japanese Handsaws" WoodenBoat, No. 234, September/October, 2013. Read it here.
Edited Marukobune, the Traditional Sailing Boats of the Lake Biwa Region by Dr. Kumi Makino, originally published by Yuzankaku, Tokyo, 2008.
"The Stradivarius of Small Boats, the World of the Adirondack Guide Boat" Sea Dreams, KAZI publications, Yokohama, Japan, Volume 13, 2011 (in Japanese). Read it here.
"Ships of the Japanese Coastal Trade" a book chapter in Shipwrights Annual, published by Anova Books, United Kingdom, 2010. Read it here.
"Bezaisen: Japan's Coastal Sailing Traders" a book chapter in Sailing Into The Past, published by Seaforth Publishing, United Kingdom, 2009. Read it here.
"A Different Way to Ro" WoodenBoat, No. 192, September/October, 2006 Read it here.
"Centennial of Ticonderoga and the Steamboats of Lake Champlain" Maritime Life and Traditions, No. 32, Fall 2006.
"The Cormorant Fishing Boat" Maritime Life and Traditions, No. 31, Summer 2006.
"A New Replica For Japan" Maritime Life and Traditions, No. 30, Spring, 2006.
"From Master To Apprentice" The Gam, No. 47, Spring, 2005. Read it here.
"To Build a Bekabune" Maritime Life and Traditions, No. 26, Spring, 2005. Read it here.
"Building the Beka Bune", KAZI, Yokohama, Japan, January, 2000 (in Japanese).
"Tarai Bune" JIAM, the Japan Intercultural Academy of Municipalities (Kokusai Bunka Kenshu), Otsu, Japan, Volume 30, 2001 (in Japanese).
"The Toba Sea-Folk Museum" WoodenBoat, July 2000. Read it here.
Edited Ticonderoga, Lake Champlain Steamboat, by Richard Strum, Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont, 1998.
"The Tarai Bune of Sado Island" Islands, January, 1998.
"Cultural Icons" Hemispheres, the United Airlines in-flight magazine, July 1997.
"Richard Earle Brockway" WoodenBoat, May 1997. Read it here.
"The Tub Boats of Sado Island" WoodenBoat, January 1997. Read it here.
"Project Profile" WoodenBoat, March 1996.
"Up the Columbia" Classic Boat, London, March 1995.
"Reenacting Lt. William Broughton's Survey of the Columbia River" the Quarterdeck, Vol. 19 No.1, autumn 1992. Read it here.
"The Stone Boatyard" WoodenBoat, December 1992.
"The Restoration of Motor Lifeboat 36542" Courier, August, 1992. Read it here.
"Ultralight Boatbuilding" WoodenBoat, July/August 1991
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I share my research and knowledge with a variety of student and adult groups, in classrooms, public libraries, colleges, and universities. Topics include, but are not limited to: Traditional Japanese Boat Building; Ways of Learning: An Apprentice in Japan; The First European Exploration of the Columbia River; Boats of the Northwest Fur Trade; Preservation and Documentation of Small Craft; and The Small Boat Traditions of Lake Champlain.
Lecture fees are based on the organization’s ability to pay. Contact me to discuss your interests. Below is a list of selected lectures.
Ways of Learning: An Apprentice Boat Builder in Japan, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.
The Meaning in the Silence, paper presented at the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Conference on Education, London, United Kingdom.
Traditional Japanese Boatbuilding, Zoom presentation for the The Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Norfolk, United Kingdom. Watch it here.
Ways of Learning: An Apprentice Boat Builder in Japan, Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Boats in the Japanese Garden, North American Japanese Garden Association Conference, Portland Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon.
Traditional Japanese Boatbuilding, The Wooden Boat Show, Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Connecticut.
Ways of Learning: An Apprentice Boat Builder in Japan, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont.
Field Research in Japan, The Museum of Maritime Science, Tokyo, Japan.
Traditional Japanese Boatbuilding, The Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA.
An Immigrant and a Native: The Boats of Hudson's Bay Company, a paper selected by the Eighth International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology, Gdansk, Poland.
Ways of Learning: An Apprentice Boat Builder in Japan, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine.
Maritime Preservation in Japan, Third International Conference on the Technical Aspects of the Preservation of Historic Vessels, San Francisco, California.
Traditional Japanese Boatbuilding, Portland, Oregon Japanese Garden.
The Life and Times of the York Boat, the Second Columbia Department Fur Trade Conference, The Center For Columbia River History, Vancouver, Washington.
Traditional Japanese Boatbuilding, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, Vermont and the Essex Historical Society, Essex, New York.
Traditional Japanese Boatbuilding, Britannia Heritage Shipyard, Steveston, British Columbia and The Center For Wooden Boats, Seattle, Washington.
The Exploration of the Northwest Coast, The Kendall Whaling Museum, Sharon, Massachusetts.
Studying Boats and Boatbuilding: A Workshop on Documentation, Rupert's Land Colloquium, Edmonton, Alberta.
The Maritime Museums of Japan, International Congress of Maritime Museums, Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Voyages of Captain George Vancouver, King's Lynn, England.
The Exploration of the Columbia River, Grant House Folk Art Center, Vancouver, Washington and The Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria, Oregon.
