I went to Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum.
I have gained a lot of knowledge and I want to share it.
Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum is near Shin-Kobe.
When you go by car, the entrance to the parking lot is narrow,
so it may be a little confusing and easy to overlook.
There is a space where about 7 cars can be parked.
Admission is 500 yen per adult,
and junior high school students and younger are free.
https://www.dougukan.jp/information
Immediately after entering,
there are exhibitions of wooden structures like this.
It has a total of 3 floors with 2 basement floors.
There is also an elevator,
so you can see all exhibitions without problems even in strollers and wheelchairs.
The interior is like a high-class custom-built house,
with an inner garden and a corridor.
On this day, there was an explanation tour by volunteers.
They explained about not only the exhibitions,
but also a story about this quaint building.
For example, this ceiling.
The ceiling is not hanging from above,
It is said that it has a structure that supports itself with a wooden frame.
Also, from the many timbers to match all the color and warp states,
It seems that the connoisseur chose them.
Also, the top part of the ceiling is not a straight.
So they were not made at the factory but by carpenters.
The tour guide said that the floor is very expensive
because it has a lot of knotless floorboards.
Also, because of such a structure,
it is impossible to set air-condition on the ceiling,
so all systems such as air-conditioning and power supply are stored under the floor.
In addition, this staircase is suspended from the ceiling,
so the space below the staircase can be widened.
After that, he will start talking about carpenter tools.
This is the difference between a stone ax and an iron ax.
The tip of the stone ax looks sharp, but the iron ax can be useful to cut trees.
Also, until the publicly known planer comes out,
they made a board with a sword, with a knife blade attached to the tip of the handle.
The board is not as smooth as a modern board, and the surface is a little wavy.
Nowadays, due to the advancement of technology,
plates with clean surfaces are mass-produced.
The automatic door at the entrance of this building,
there is a door set up with a 12cm thick single plate.
It was created by a craftsman who handles old planer.
There are only about 10 craftsmen in Japan that can handle it.
Next to it, a large saw for mass production of plates from logs was on display.
This is a model of the five-storied pagoda at Horyu-ji Temple in Nara.
The five-storied pagoda of Toji in Kyoto is 50 meters higher than Horyu-ji.
However, as it gets higher, the size is gradually reduced.
It is designed to look high with an optical illusion.
The tour guide said the top floor was half the width of the bottom.
The five-storied pagoda is famous for being strong against repeated earthquakes.
The secret is said that each tower is “just on board”.
It seems that it is pointed out that it is strong
because each layer swings alternately during an earthquake.
Because this model is owned by Takenaka Corporation,
so there was no cover with acrylic plates.
This is a set of tools that carpenters had at that time.
High quality tools are destined to be used until they wear out.
And if the carpenter put a set of tools in a temple,
he would not earn more money.
So, it is very unusual that the entire tool set remains like this.
When this tool was found, It seems that they were well-maintained tools.
This is a water motif against the building’s fire.
This is a reproduction by Takenaka Corporation
after structural analysis of a part of Toshodaiji Temple Hall.
It seems to be made of 174 parts.
The structural analysis also showed that
20 tons of force was applied to one pillar.
There was also an introduction of overseas tools.
In Japan, there were many processings of relatively soft cedar and cypress trees.
Because there were many processing of hard timber such as oak overseas,
It seems that there were many axes larger than Japanese axes.
The whole tea room was on display.
The number of boards used at the entrance is always two and a half.
Also, there seems to be a rule that
the number of grids affixed to the window must be an odd number.
The bamboo cylinder used on the roof is buried with bamboo skewers
so that bees can not entry in it.
The Japanese landscape made of half-timberwork was awesome
especially the snowy gradation on the mountains.
I can’t imagine that it was made of only wooden frames.
The guide tour explained about 2 hours.
I think that he was who originally worked for Takenaka Corporation.
So, I’m sure the story is correct.