Tub boats are made of local sugi (Japanese cedar) and madake (timber bamboo). The construction is the same as Japanese coopering, except that the bottom of the tub boat is slightly concave and the boats are oval. The planking is doweled together with bamboo nails but the braided bamboo hoops are what really hold these boats together. The woodwork in a tub boat is not at all beyond the skills of an experienced carpenter, but the braiding of the hoops is now an extremely rare skill. Each hoop is comprised of four 45-foot long strips of bamboo. The hoops are pounded onto the hull and each must fit precisely since the hull is slightly tapered. Mr. Fujii could cut, split and weave three hoops for a boat in less than four hours. He also relied on an obscure zodiac called hassen which governed when he could cut bamboo.

Taraibune were traditionally used by women on Sado Island. Fisherpersons use a wooden box with a glass bottom so they can see underwater. They spear a valuable shellfish called sazae and also gather wakame (seaweed). Tub boats are propelled facing forward with a paddle, though in one village they use outboard motors.

After apprenticing with Mr. Fujii in 1996 I returned to finish his final tub boat after his death in 1999. Later my apprentice and I built two tub boats, one at the Niigata Prefectural Museum of History and another on Sado Island. In 2001 I built one for the Peabody Essex Museum and in 2017 built one for Lowells Boat Shop. I blogged about its construction here.

I detail how to build these boats in my first book, The Tub Boats of Sado Island; A Japanese Craftsman's Methods (in English and Japanese) and in Japanese Wooden Boatbuilding.