In 2017 I was asked to build a boat for Ritsurin Koen, considered one of Japan’s three most famous gardens. The Garden has extensive ponds and an earlier tour boat had proved so popular the Garden wanted another. Unfortunately the original boatbuilder had passed away so I was contacted. I built the boat over a one-month period. It is not a traditional Japanese design, but I used traditional methods in its construction, including edge-nailing planking. The bottom is hinoki (cypress) and the side planking and transoms are sugi (cedar). The boat is propelled with a bamboo pole.
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Hi Douglas, I was flipping through these boats and when I saw this I thought, this has to be one of yours. Great pictures, gives a real sense of how different the construction method is. Enjoy,
Hi Douglas-
This is a wonderful small craft, beautifully conceived and constructed.
Great process photos….Thanks!
I saw your talk at the Japan Society and said hi afterwards.
Best,
Ed Howe
Westport Mass
Dear Mr. Howe,
Thanks for your comments. If you are really interested in that boat I blogged about the whole process starting here: http://blog.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com/2017/01/garden-boat-for-takamatsu.html. You can see the construction from beginning to end along with some of my weekend side trips.
Thanks, Douglas
Thanks, Douglas. I will check it out. I enjoyed the website, and pleased to see that you have built a few boats from Bob Baker’s catalog… I remember when Azulykit arrived in Warren RI from the California, and the yawl boat too. Great work on your part!
As I mention in the caption this was not a traditional design, but purpose-designed to carry passengers in the garden. The common canal cargo boat was called a tenmasen and I listed one in this show I built for the Anderson Japanese Garden in Illinois. Go to my Profile then My Listings and look for it. At my website you can see several types of tenmasen I have built, all very different. But if you are looking for a term for a small cargo boat it would be tenmasen. “Tenma” can mean “horse” so some theorize the name indicates a waterway beast of burden, so to speak. The cover of my book Japanese Wooden Boatbuilding shows a classic tenmasen canal cargo boat that I built with my teacher in Tokyo in 2002. I modeled the Anderson Garden boat on that one.
Hi Douglas, I was flipping through these boats and when I saw this I thought, this has to be one of yours. Great pictures, gives a real sense of how different the construction method is. Enjoy,
Dean Raffaelli Chicago, IL
Hi Douglas-
This is a wonderful small craft, beautifully conceived and constructed.
Great process photos….Thanks!
I saw your talk at the Japan Society and said hi afterwards.
Best,
Ed Howe
Westport Mass
Dear Mr. Howe,
Thanks for your comments. If you are really interested in that boat I blogged about the whole process starting here: http://blog.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com/2017/01/garden-boat-for-takamatsu.html. You can see the construction from beginning to end along with some of my weekend side trips.
Thanks, Douglas
Thanks, Douglas. I will check it out. I enjoyed the website, and pleased to see that you have built a few boats from Bob Baker’s catalog… I remember when Azulykit arrived in Warren RI from the California, and the yawl boat too. Great work on your part!
wow, what a gorgeous small craft, a scow? or is there a Japanese term for a shallow draught river barge? thanks for posting!
Dear Dan,
As I mention in the caption this was not a traditional design, but purpose-designed to carry passengers in the garden. The common canal cargo boat was called a tenmasen and I listed one in this show I built for the Anderson Japanese Garden in Illinois. Go to my Profile then My Listings and look for it. At my website you can see several types of tenmasen I have built, all very different. But if you are looking for a term for a small cargo boat it would be tenmasen. “Tenma” can mean “horse” so some theorize the name indicates a waterway beast of burden, so to speak. The cover of my book Japanese Wooden Boatbuilding shows a classic tenmasen canal cargo boat that I built with my teacher in Tokyo in 2002. I modeled the Anderson Garden boat on that one.
Sincerely, Douglas