民家学校

June 5-6 attended the Minka (民家) course sponsored by the Japan Minka Revival Association (日本民家再生協会). "Minka" means folk house in Japanese. On Saturday, we helped with the renovation of a minka in Yamanashi Prefecture. Last fall I helped with the rethatching and making the bamboo base for the earthen plaster walls. This time we plastered the finish coat with Keisodo (珪藻土), a plaster described in a previous posting. On Sunday, we visited several renovated Minkas in the morning. Structure of thatch roof. Irori (囲炉裏), charcole pit. Silk worms. In the afternoon, we attened a lecture given by Amamiya-san (雨宮氏), a carpenter who uses traditional tools and refrains from using power tools as much as possible. Shed built by Amamiya-san.