The masters of Hida: 1,300 years of woodcraft
An exhibition in London celebrates the skills of carpenters from this forested region of Japan
The story stretches back 1,300 years, to a time when the carpenters in Hida were sent to work in the imperial capital Nara, building its many temples and structures in lieu of labour tax. These carpenters came to be known — as recorded in 8th-century legal documents — as “Hida no Takumi” (“Masters of Hida”), and their legacy has endured to this day. Centred on the city of Takayama, skills have been passed down through generations and unique techniques have developed, maintaining the place as a hub of woodcraft. “Today, important designers go to Takayama in order to get their designs made — because that’s where the skills are,” says Wright. Japan House London’s show — The Carpenters’ Line: Woodworking Heritage in Hida Takayama — explores the region’s relationship to the craft, encompassing trees, tools and techniques. Visitors are immersed in a space filled with images and sounds of Hida’s forests (the city of Takayama is 92 per cent forested). It all begins with the material of these forests: more than 350 species of tree form the heart of the craft, from beech and walnut to hinoki cypress and Japanese cedar. The tool that gives the exhibition its name — the carpenters’ line, known as sumi-tsubo or sumi-nawa in Japan, and which uses ink to mark out straight lines — is one of many harnessed to transform wood into structures and objects. “That fundamental line you create is vital for the carpenter,” says Wright.
Precision is central to carpentry, and Japanese woodcraft is celebrated for its ingenious, often complex joinery that connects pieces of wood together. Carved shapes allow elements to lock together, puzzle-like, without the need for glue or nails. It is a time-intensive tradition that continues today, not only as a way to celebrate the skill but also because its practicality endures: in architecture, wooden joints are less vulnerable than nails to rot and decay, and are more resilient in earthquakes — a constant risk in Japan. “If a large earthquake happens and the pieces of wood aren’t actually connected together, [they] will bend into one another: this puts a huge amount of stress on the metal fixture and it ends up breaking,” says Kawakami Shingo, a Takayama-based carpenter who works for the Nissin furniture company. “If you join pieces of wood securely together without relying on metal fixtures, then when pressure is placed on this conjoined piece of wood it bends as one . . . [this] prevents the wood from breaking.” The technique also translates to furniture, though not for purposes of earthquake resiliency. “We try not to use metal fixtures where possible,” adds Shingo. “When we join [the various elements of a chair], if there are any gaps, that means the join isn’t as flush as it could be, so we adjust so that it fits together perfectly. This process is repeated until we have a fully conjoined singular piece of furniture.”
Another tradition associated with Japanese woodcraft is lacquerware, and in Hida a particular technique was developed in the 17th century called Hida-Shunkei. Defined by a translucent, rather than opaque, lacquer — typically in amber or ruby red hues — the technique speaks of delicacy and celebrates the form and the grain of the wood beneath. Despite the importance of traditional methods, modern innovation has helped shape the evolution of Hida woodcraft. In the 1920s, bentwood techniques developed in 19th-century Austria began to be embraced by Hida craftsmen who used them to work with difficult woods such as beech, creating elegant and curving chairs. Hida Sangyo, a furniture manufacturer established in 1920 and located in Takayama, developed a technique of compression that allowed craftsmen to work with local Japanese cedar (cryptomeria japonica) in new ways. The wood’s softness had made it largely unsuitable for furniture, but intense compression transformed it into a stronger, more versatile material. In the exhibition, the results of the technique can be seen in Hida Sangyo’s smooth, mid-century-inspired Kisaragi chair (2014) as well as the company’s Wavok floor and wall panelling (2014), in which the cryptomeria’s growth-ring patterns are arranged in a seductively swirling, graphic manner.
Machines have increasingly had a role to play in Hida woodcraft, but are not considered a perfect solution. “There will always be processes that cannot be done with machines,” says Shingo. “A person needs to look at the product, check it, finish it off by hand, because this human element can completely change how a product feels on the hands, or how it feels to sit on.” Hida continues to be a centre of woodcraft for many reasons, from its forested setting to initiatives such as the Hida Artisan School, which passes on carpentry skills through intensive two-year apprenticeships. But it is also local carpenters’ attention to quality that sustains the region’s reputation. All furniture crafted in Hida is given a 10-year guarantee. “This requires continually working on the product to fix minor, subtle discrepancies,” says Shingo. “If you ignore these minor details and create products with a focus on efficiency, then they’ll end up breaking in five or six years . . . [taking greater care] means that it might take longer or the cost of the product might be higher, but that is an element that woodworkers in Hida don’t budge on.” “The Carpenters’ Line: Woodworking Heritage in Hida Takayama” is at Japan House London until January 29 2023