百姓　Hyakusho

2011-05-22

Mr. Ryokawa's Rocket Stove

On May 22 visited the home of Mr. Ryokawa, an architect and arborist living in Karuizawa, Nagano-Prefecture.

Mr. Ryokawa has designed and built a number of rocket stoves.

The flue travels under a long bench (not pictured) before exiting

Heat Riser

伊藤邸プロジェクト Straw Bale Home in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture

May 11-24 was in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture working on the straw bale home of Tetsu and Yukiko Ito. The home was designed by Professor Goichi Oiwa (大岩先生) of Slow Design Research Group (スローデザイン研究会).

Roughly 80 straw bales were used for the south and east first floor walls.

Workshops were held May 14-15 and 21-22. Many people attended including Hiroaki Yoshimoto of the NPO Toyama Straw Bale House Association (富山ストローベイルハウス協会).

Greg Lasigan, a farmer and Anglican priest from the Philippines, was an incredible contribution to our team. A real pleasure to work with. Sometime in the near future, we hope to work together on a model home for the Philippines using mainly bamboo, mud, straw, and unmilled lumber.

Bales stacked and ready for plaster

Tetsu's nephews did much of the first thin mud layer

Soil from Nagano Prefecture

Chibana-san prepares the split bamboo and rope base for plastering over wood.

Architect and arborist Ryokawa-san prepares a mix of long straw and clay for shaping the wall.

Minami cutting straw

Greg shredding straw with a weed-whacker

Shredded straw

Architect Kitamura-sensei applies a cut straw and mud mix to flatten the wall.

The last coat of the scratch/base coat is applied with a trowel

Exterior scratch coat

Bamboo lattice (竹小舞) and earthen plaster for the interior

Apply the first coat by hand and follow immediately with a trowel.

Group shot from the last day of the workshop

2011-05-08

May 8 helped with the construction of the tree house at Wa-no-ie "Sakurai" (和の家「桜井」) in Tokyo.

The tree house is special in that it utilizes traditional Japanese building practices, such as timber framing and bamboo lattice and earthen plastered walls.

Mr. Katsumata (勝又氏) lead construction of the bamboo and earthen plastered walls.

Adobe mud loafs to be stacked as bricks.

2011-05-05

Leyenda Straw Bale Antique Gallery and Store

April 25 to May 5 worked on the construction of Leyenda Antique Gallery and Store in Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture.

Construction began last year and was featured in a blog entry last November.

Construction of the building is lead by Hiroaki YOSHIMOTO of the Toyama Straw Bale House Association (富山ストローベイルハウス協会).

Hiro and Kyle Team Work included interior and exterior plastering.

Although the building utilizes ventilated rain screens to protect the bale walls from rain and snow, the owner wanted straw to be a visual element of the exterior.

We achieved this by including straw fibers in the exterior lime plaster, which gave the finish plaster a soft yellow tone.

For the finish plaster, the hydrate lime was purchased at the local home improvement center, sand was purchased locally, and local straw was shredded on site. All together, the cost of materials was just over 20,000yen, that's about a $200USD.

Pulling apart fibers for the plaster

Group photo

2011-04-20

Spring

Since beginning to manage the permaculture garden at Nihon Universiy's Center for Environmental Sciences, this this the largest number of summer vegetable seedlings I've started.

Several hundred seedlings and many more not pictured

Five years ago I received asparagus seeds from a buddy in Pennsylvania name Paul Starr. I'm finally getting around to planting those asparagus seeds. Thank you, Paul.

Lacto-fermenting Takana, a mustard green.

Cherry blossoms at the research center

Baking pizzas in the earthen oven.

2011-03-25

Straw Bale PhD Thesis ストローベイル博士論文

On March 25 I was awarded a PhD (Bioresource Sciences) 博士（生物資源科学） from Nihon University. My dissertation is available at the link below.

The Hygrothermal Environment of Straw Bale Walls in Japan and Building Practices to Control Interstitial Moisture (日本におけるストローベイル建築の壁内温湿度環境と壁内湿気対策に関する研究)

College of Bioresource Sciences' Graduation Ceremony

Due to the earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear crisis, Nihon University, and many other Universities in Tokyo, canceled the main graduation ceremony.

Fujisawa has regular power outages, but instead of canceling the Fujisawa campus graduation ceremony altogether, they abbreviated it to a short 30 minute ceremony and then handed out certificates separately.

Itonaga-sensei and Kyle

2011-03-20

大津磨き講習会　Otsu Polished Earthen-lime Plaster

March 20th, attended an Ostu polished earthen-lime plaster (大津磨き) workshop sponsored by the Heiseikai (平成会) and held at the Sakan Shokuren Kaikan (左官職連会館) in Tokyo. Instruction was given by Mr. Konuma (小沼親方) of Ninja Sakan (忍者左官).
1) Practice panels were hung. These panels had already had the brown coat (中塗) applied.
2) Plaster two coats of the Haitsuchi (灰土).
The Haitsuchi consists of 1 part quicklime putty to 2 parts earthen plaster.
The quicklime putty is aged for more than several weeks.
The earthen plaster consists of 1 part soil sieved through a 100 mesh and 1.5 parts "Hidashi" rice straw fibers about 10mm long. Hidashi designates a type of rice straw fiber about 10mm long, as opposed to "Mijin" fibers which are less than 3mm with the stem nodes shifted out.

3) Plaster two coats of the Otsu finish coat.
The Otsu finish coat consists of 3 parts earthen plaster to 1 part quicklime putty.
The earthen plaster consists of 1 part soil sieved through a 100 mesh, 1 part pigment, and 0.01 part paper fibers. Further details on processing the paper fibers can be found at Mr. Tomizawa's blog.

2011-03-19

屋上菜園　三軒茶屋　Rooftop Garden in Tokyo

March 19 stopped briefly at a rooftop garden in Tokyo.

Preparing the garden for spring planting

2011-03-14

Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Relief

I'm am member of an NPO in Japan called Ecology ArchiScape (hereafter EAS). EAS works to connect people, nature, art, and the built environment. The president of EAS is my professor, Dr. Koji Itonaga. Fifteen years ago Prof. Itonaga began working with Iitate Village, a rural community in Fukushima Prefecture. Last year EAS and Prof. Itonaga's research studio supported the construction of a model ecological home and sustainability center in Iitate Village. I lead a straw bale building workshop at the facility. Iitate Village is located 30-40 km from Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant.

To put it simply, Iitate Village is in critical condition. Over 1000 tsunami refugees have taken shelter in elementary schools in Iitate Village, which normally has a population of 6000 people. Food, heating oil, and gasoline are in short supply. Iitate Village is now also a refugee area for those living within 20km of the nuclear power plant. However, atmospheric radiation levels in Iitate Village are above normal and Iitate Village has been declared an indoor evacuation zone (屋内退避), meaning that people are instructed not to go outside. A graph depicting radiation levels in Iitate Village is available here. And much worse, tap water tested at Iitate Village showed more than triple the level of radiation allowed by the government. Japan's Health Ministry is urging Iitate Village residents not to drink the tap water.

Several group evacuations have occurred, carrying hundreds of residents and refugees southwest. Unfortunately, farming is an important occupation in Iitate Village and many people cannot leave their livestock.

That all being said, EAS is raising money to provide emergency assistance to Iitate Village. Please visit the EAS homepage for further information.

2011-03-11

日本ロケットストーブ普及協会　広島県　共生庵　Japan Rocket Stove Association in Hiroshima Prefecture

March 12 visited Pastor Juntaro Arakawa (荒川純太郎氏) of the Japan Rocket Stove Association (日本ロケットストーブ普及協会).

Mr. Arakawa and basic rocket cooking stove

Mr. Arakawa feeding two rocket stoves

2011-02-24

ロケットストーブ Rocket Stove 福島県飯舘村 Iitate Village, Fukushima Prefecture

Rocket stoves are fuel efficient, high temperature cooking and heating stoves. One characteristic of rocket stoves is that oxygen is drawn through the fuel, resulting in higher temperature combustion compared to some conventional cooking and wood burning stoves. Another characteristic of rocket stoves is that they are often hand built as opposed to purchased.