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, July 19, 2020

New Book On Building the Cormorant Fishing Boat

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I've posted to my Instagram page a link for a free digital download of my latest book, which chronicles my 2017 project building a tradi...

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Friday, April 17, 2020

Do-It-Yourself Waterstone

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Three years ago I blogged here about meeting Japan's only full-time miner and maker of natural waterstones. Without repeating what I wr...

Friday, January 31, 2020

2020 Middlebury Winter Term - The Japanese Teahouse

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This month I taught my fourth Winter Term at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. Previously I have built traditional Japanese boats w...

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Sunday, December 8, 2019

Two Kyoto Bucket Makers

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Now just back from building two boats in Japan. Just before leaving I visited two bucket makers in Kyoto whom I have profiled at this blog b...

Friday, November 8, 2019

Now in Japan Building Two Boats

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Blog post updated December 11, 2019. This will be a very short post, one just to share with you a link to another blog where we will be po...

Monday, September 16, 2019

Announcement - New Research Initiative in Japan

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Last year I proposed a partnership with the Apprenticeshop , America's oldest boatbuilding school in Rockland, Maine, creating a boatbui...

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Two Boats, Two Coasts

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I've been teaching four and five-week Japanese boatbuilding courses at Middlebury College and Bates College, respectively (you can read ...

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About Me

Douglas Brooks: I am a boatbuilder, writer and researcher with a special interest in traditional Japanese boatbuilding. Since 1996 I have apprenticed with nine boatbuilders throughout Japan, building and documenting the designs and construction of over a dozen distinct types of Japanese boats. My research involves working directly with craftsmen in order to document their secrets and techniques. In my view this work is crucial, as Japan's last traditional boatbuilders leave little or no written record of their work and most have no apprentices. This work is chronicled in my latest book, Japanese Wooden Boatbuilding, published in 2015 by Floating World Editions. Signed and inscribed copies are available from my website. Here in the US I build wooden boats for private clients and as education projects for museums and municipalities. I also teach boatbuilding and I am researching the boats and boatbuilding traditions of the Lake Champlain Basin where I live. I write for WoodenBoat magazine, among other publications. Please visit my website: www.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com COPYRIGHT NOTICE © Douglas Brooks and douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com 2020.

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