立場 Great Sea

Last fall helped one day with the renovation of a temple not far from where I live.

Rammed Earth Interior Wall

Construction was led by Hiro Asano. Hiro and a group of eccentric architects and craftspeople construct beautiful and unique buildings throughout Japan, ranging from Okinawa to Hokkaido.

Polished Lime

On January 17, Hiro, Aya, Acchan, Maeno-senpai, Tanaka-kun and I moved about three tons of left over soil from the building site to my research center.

Earthen cement exterior plaster and rammed earth interior walls

Matsuzaki (松崎)

June 13 visited Matsuzaki (松崎) on the Izu Peninsula (伊豆半島). Matsuzaki is famous for tiled earthen walls, known as Namako-kabe (なまこ壁). It is also the birthplace of Chohachi (長八) (1815-1889), Japan’s most famous Kote-e (鏝絵) artist. Kote-e are colored reliefs made using trowels.

土佐漆喰

June 7-9 traveled to Hokkaido to help Noda-san, a professional plasterer from Urakawa, Hokkaido, with the finish coat of Tosa-shikkui (土佐漆喰) on the walls of Square One, Toby and Maiko's straw bale house near Asahikawa, Hokkaido. Noda-san also call up Horiguchi-san, a young but experienced plasterer from Kyoto.