Traditional Boats - East and West - at Douglas Brooks Boatbuilding

Douglas Brooks is a boatbuilder, writer and researcher, specializing in wooden boats built to traditional Western and Japanese designs. My research work involves documenting the design secrets and techniques of traditional Japanese boatbuilding, working directly with Japan's last wooden boatbuilders. I also research the boatbuilding traditions of the Lake Champlain Basin where I live. http://www.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com COPYRIGHT © Douglas Brooks and douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com 2016.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Ben again

We share the shop with what seems like a hundred sparrows. They are noisy in the morning until they clear out for the day. One remarkable quality they seem to have is that they don't leave droppings in the shop. That bit of fastidiousness (very Japanese?) will be important to anyone who has varnished or painted a boat in the company of birds.....

"Sparrow" in Japanese is "suzume." But here on Iejima they are called "chyou chyou."

2 comments:

James HuffmanDecember 3, 2009 at 1:37 AM
In Tokyo, the child's word for sparrow is chun-chun (long u, as in 'truth'). Which came first, the chun-chun or the chyou-chyou?
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David jacksonDecember 8, 2009 at 7:07 PM
Fascinating Douglas "to be there" with you as you tell the story ...and the use and fabrication of the butterfly plugs was very interesting. Thank you.David Jackson
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