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Building a Japanese Light

Andon 2 joinery detail

The past couple of days I’ve been working on an andon (Japanese light).  I’ve made a couple of these now, and for this version I decided to build the structure of the andon with all wood joined connections.  In this case the posts and stretchers that make up the framework are locked together and held in place by wedges, no glue is used or needed.  The connection is based on a traditional Japanese joint called the Watari Ago joint.  It’s a very strong connection, yet it also makes the andon demountable and easily repairable in the event that it ever gets damaged.

andon 2 assembled

andon 2 upper wedged joinery
On the upper portion the wedges are more visible.
andon 2 lower wedge
Here is one of the four lower connections. Inside the post both horizontal pieces are notched and locked onto one another. When the wedge is inserted it prevents the pieces from ever coming apart.
andon 2 wedge locking corner joinery
Here’s the same connection from the outside
andon 2 wedge trimmed
Wedge tapped into place.

 

2 thoughts on “Building a Japanese Light”

    1. Thanks. I’m not sure where to get plans for these kinds of lights. I designed this one myself after doing a bit of research to get an idea of the proportions of traditional andon.

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