Making Shoji

The construction of shoji – Japanese sliding doors and screens – requires great skill and attention to detail. However the task is within the reach of amateur woodworkers. Toshio Odate provides the necessary guidance and skills needed to tackle this traditional craft with confidence. Step-by-step instructions, illustrated by photographs of every stage, show readers how to prepare materials, lay out joints, cut the parts, and assemble two shoji projects: the common sliding screen with hipboard, and an intricate transom featuring the beautiful “asanoha” pattern. Technical chapters cover the Japanese mortis-and-tenon joint and home-made rice glue. Drawing upon his unusual life, Odate also intersperses the text with moving anecdotes of his somtimes harsh apprenticeship in post-War Japan.