From the beginning up to the present day, the history of woodwork in this country can be divided into several distinct epochs:

It is common to see wooden piles bordering the bank of a pond that seem to taper down to the area where they meet the water and this is because regular soaking and exposure to the air creates the worst possible environment for wood. However, if wood is fully submerged in water or mud, cutting off the supply of oxygen and thereby suppressing the propagation of decay fungus, then it is surprisingly resistant to rot. This can be seen from the fact that a huge cedar tree that was buried in a landslide at the foot of Mt. Chōkai in 466 B.C.E. has recently been excavated and is now highly sought after, as this kind of lignitised Japanese cedar is a material treasured by craftspeople. However, when it comes to examples of woodwork, very few archeological specimens have been discovered; a large number of wooden items dating back 2,200 to 1,700 years were discovered at the Aoyakamijichi site in Tottori Prefecture, but of particular interest is the ‘Collapsible Desk’ that was excavated from the Sasai site in Fukuoka City as this represents a complete example of cabinetmaking. Discovered completely submerged in muddy water, it is in virtually perfect condition and recent advances in tree-ring dating (dendrochronology) have shown that the timber used for the top board was felled during the first century C.E. Although today we refer to it as a ‘collapsible desk’, that is not to say it resembles today’s camping equipment that can be dismantled for easy transport, rather, as it was made at a time before the invention of glue, it was jointed together, then fixed in place using wedges, to create a sturdy structure.

This relic can truly be described as representing the roots of woodworking in Japan, but the fact is that it has received little research by people with a woodworking background and I look forward to a time when we see more interchange between archeologists and woodworkers.

collection of the Fukuoka City Archaeology Center

Excavation of the Sasai Site

collection of the Fukuoka City Archaeology Center

Collapsible Desk

The collection of the Shōsōin Repository dates back to the 8th century and contains numerous woodwork treasures. The Kokka Chinpō Chō [List of the Nation's Rare Treasures] is an inventory of all the items associated with Emperor Shōmu that comprise this collection and although the first entry is for nine Buddhist stoles that belonged to the Emperor, who had devoted his life to Buddhism, the next entry is for a ‘Red-lacquered Zelkova Cabinet’. This cabinet holds an important position in the history of both craft works and of woodworking technique. First, I would like to look at its provenance: it is said to have belonged to six Emperors of Emperor Tenmu’s line, from Tenmu to Shōmu, and so it can be said to have been a treasure that affirmed the Imperial lineage.

Made of zelkova timber with a beautiful grain that has been carefully worked to create the cabinet, we can only marvel at the skill that went into its construction. It is said that at the time it was made large saws did not exist and the only way to produce boards or columns was to use wedges to split large logs. However, would it really be possible to produce boards with a complicated grain such as those incorporated in this work simply by splitting? I personally think not and I can only presume that some kind of large saw did exist. Furthermore, if we look at the doors, we see that they have been finished using a clamp joint across the end of the grain while the internal shelves utilize dovetail joints, demonstrating that advanced woodworking techniques were already firmly established at this time. There are still many unanswered questions regarding this cabinet, such as where it was made, etc., but one thing we do know without doubt is that this kind of woodwork already existed 1,300 years ago and formed the basis for the development of future cabinetmaking.

Another important episode in woodworking history during the Nara period was the production of the ‘One Million Pagodas’. Empress Shōtoku, commanded the creation of one million pagodas, approximately twenty centimeters in height, but despite the huge numbers involved, there is virtually no variation in size among them. It was a vast project in woodworking history of which Japan can truly be proud.

collection of the Shōsōin

Red-lacquered Zelkova Cabinet

collection of the Tokyo National Museum

One Million Pagoda

The custom of drinking tea and its related utensils were introduced into Japan from China during the twelfth century by the Zen Master, Eisai, where it gradually spread among the samurai class. During the Muromachi period (1392–1573), the drinking of tea flourished as part of the literati culture, as can be seen in the Higashiyama Gyomotsu (The Art Collection of the Muromachi Shogunate), but it was not until the appearance of MURATA Jukō that a uniquely Japanese tea ceremony first began to develop. Jukō took the basic style of the lacquered utensil stand that had been imported from China and replaced the legs with bamboo while using plain paulownia wood for the upper and lower shelves to produce his ‘Bamboo daisu’ [shelf unit]. This stand was passed on to TAKENO-Jōō and SEN-no-Rikyū and can be said to symbolize the transformation of the tea ceremony from a Chinese to Japanese art. SEN-no-Rikyū is renowned for having established foundations of the wabicha style of tea ceremony that is still practiced to this day, and in addition, he also designed various shelves, etc., that highlight the natural beauty of wood. In fact it would be no exaggeration to say that these simple wooden implements symbolize the spirit of wabicha. The marujoku style of round utensil stand is thought to have originated from the lid of a barrel and is generally left in a plain wood finish, with paulownia being used to create a simple, yet stable form. The Rikyū Mulberry Desk has all unnecessary parts removed to produce a simple writing desk with a dignified, noble feel. Again, Rikyū’s great-grandson, Kōshin, who preserved Rikyū’s teachings, is known for his design of the ‘Mikimachidana’ shelves, which are interesting in that they consist of three different types of wood—Japanese cedar, cypress and fir. This spirit of reverence towards a plain wood finish was to have a powerful influence on the production of furniture and household fixtures in Japan, leading eventually to the appearance of paulownia chests-of-drawers and mulberry tea-cabinets.

Bamboo Daisu [shelf unit]

Rikyū Mulberry Desk / from the Chashiki kagetsushū

The paulownia chests-of-drawers that are still common today are believed to have originated during the mid-Edo period and it is said that the amount of wood that can be obtained from a single tree is approximately the same as that required to make one chest-of-drawers. There three factors that led to the birth of these chests-of-drawers that require such a large quantity of wood: 1. The regular supply and distribution of a standardized timber through the development of logging techniques and the establishment of a nationwide transport system. 2. The development of cabinetmaking techniques, the invention of the hand plane (this is said to have first appeared during the Muromachi period [1392–1573] and resembled those used today), and the development of metalworking to produce saws and chisels. It was this appearance of sharp tools that made the development of elaborate joints possible. 3. Finally, and most important, was the development of the economy leading to an increase in the number of items requiring storage and a desire to possess more.

In this way, large numbers of chests-of-drawers and other kinds of furniture were produced, but being functional objects, not many remain today, despite their relatively late appearance. One notable exception is KOBAYASHI Jodei, a carpenter from Matsue in Shimane Prefecture, who received the patronage of the local lord, MATSUDAIRA Fumai. His ‘Side Screen in Paulownia’ (Tokyo National Museum) has a minutely detailed design in openwork that is an amazing achievement and it is a mystery how he achieved it in the days before the invention of the fretsaw. He also made a box using nails the same thickness as the wood and a sake cup that can be dismantled and reconstructed while remaining watertight, these works demonstrating his outstanding skill in addition to a sense of humor. In eastern Japan (Higashimiya, Gunma Prefecture), there is a village that was buried in a mudslide at around the same time that Jodei was active and various items of woodwork have been excavated from this site. The purpose of the works and the skill exhibited in their creation is quite different from Jodei’s work, but both demonstrate the same basic skills of cabinetmaking. From these we are able to learn more about the development of woodworking skills and their spread through the country.

collection of the Tokyo National Museum

Side Screen with Design of Hemp -leaf in Fretwork, made by KOBAYASHI Jodei

collection of the Gunma Archaeological Research Foundation

Legged Tray excavated from the Higashimiya site

With the Advent of the Meiji Period (1868–1912), Western Knowledge is Added to Japanese Traditional Skills and Woodwork Technique Reaches its Peak. In 1882, MAEDA Bunnosuke Sōmei, the man who was to go on to establish woodwork as a modern kōgei [art craft], was apprenticed to ŌTA Mankichi at his workshop in Nihonbashi Higashinakadōri. Ōta was closely involved in the government’s policy to boost exports of kōgei and visited various overseas expositions. For his part, Maeda was originally from Miyakejima Island and it was he who first started to use the outstanding mulberry timber that was available there and on the neighboring island of Mikurajima in his work. Unlike the lacquerware that had been popular prior to this, mikurajima mulberry possessed a more subdued, sturdy beauty that appealed to the abstemious tastes of SHIBUSAWA Eiichi and other leading advocates of modern capitalism who became his patrons, ushering in a period when fine woodwork would flourish as a form of modern art. MAEDA Sōmei received numerous awards at exhibitions both here and abroad, becoming famed for producing works in mikurajima mulberry that were presented by the Tokyo government at the coronations of both Emperor Taishō and Emperor Shōwa. So strong was his connection with mulberry timber, that he used the character for mulberry, ‘Sō’, in his name. My grandfather, Sōgetsu, did not begin to work for Maeda until 1907 when he was already thirty years old, which is quite late to start a new career, but when he was living in Seki City, Gifu Prefecture, he had mastered the skills of a temple carpenter and it was not long before he became manager of the workshop. He became Maeda’s right-hand man and eventually received half of his master’s name, adopting the name Sōgetsu. From that time until the prewar years he was blessed with a supply of good timber and generous patrons allowing him to work as a mulberry specialist cabinetmaker, known in Japanese as a kuwamonoshi. During the 1920s he was joined by his son, Sōsui, this marking the beginning of three generations of the Suda family being involved in fine woodwork.

collection of the Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum

Hexagonal Shrine of Mikurajima Mulberry made by MAEDA Sōmei

Photograph of MAEDA Sōmei, my grandfather SUDA Sōgetsu and other apprentices producing items to be presented at the coronation of the Taisho Emperor (Yoshihito)

On March 10, 1945, the tools and the large stock of high-quality mikurajima mulberry timber that had been piled high in my father’s Nihonbashi workshop went up in smoke during the Great Tokyo Air Raid. As my father, Sōsui, later reminisced, this was the end of the mikurajima mulberry age. Having lost his materials, his tools and even his patrons, Sōsui chose to become a kōgei artist in order to carry on his traditional work while employing his skills to the full. Unlike the modern, Western model, where people study at university in order to learn how to realize their own expressions of creativity, Japanese kōgei places greater importance on technique. The fact that the skills required to work with the hands were not discarded during the Japanese industrial revolution but were able to coexist is probably unique to this country. However, that is not to say that just anybody can become an artist. I would like to stress that the reason why Sōsui possessed the skills and aesthetics required to become an artist in this way was due to his forerunners in this field—ŌTA Mankichi, MAEDA Sōmei and his father, Sōgetsu, but above all, it was the result of his own perseverance. When he was young, he began to study the tea ceremony and during the war, his teacher, KAJITA Megumu had a strong influence on him. After dropping out of the Tokyo University of the Arts, Kajita had done a variety of jobs including scenography, but despite never having been abroad to study and living in a time when such information was scarce, he had a wonderful understanding of Chinese, Korean and Western styles of furniture design, drawing up plans and offering instruction on their construction. He also possessed a deep knowledge of kōgei, and it was his instruction that allowed Sōsui to sublimate his work from cabinetmaking to fine woodwork. Sōsui also followed Kajita’s teachings in that he considered ‘the true essence of woodwork to be furniture’ and regularly devoted himself to the creation of shelves, etc., showing his work through the Japan Traditional Kōgei: Art Crafts Exhibition that was first held in 1954. While I was growing up, I often watched him struggling to complete works for this exhibition and I later joined him, first showing my work there in 1975, then subsequently every year to this day.

collection of the University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts

Grandfather ‒ Easy chair, designed by KAJITA Megumu

collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Small Chest of Pagoda Tree Wood, made by SUDA Sōsui