The Year of Mud 2024 Workshop Highlights

Hey Folks, It’s been a bit quiet around here lately, but I’m back now in Japan after spending a few weeks in Kentucky teaching a couple of Japanese carpentry workshops with a good friend Yamamoto-san from Somakosha. The workshops were hosted by Ziggy and April of The Year of Mud, on their beautiful property near Berea, KY. It was my first time teaching at Ziggy and April’s place, but the experience was incredible, and it was a nice change of pace getting out of Tokyo into the countryside near the Adirondacks.

Both workshops lasted 6 days and we had a range of students from all over north America and one person who came all the way from England! It was really amazing to see people come from so far just to learn about Japanese carpentry.

The first week we held a workshop on Japanese carpentry fundamentals, covering everything from sharpening and general tool use, layout and cutting of a variety joints forming a “joinery tree”. The idea for this kind of joinery model came from Yann Giguere, who teaches a similar class, and it’s a fantastic way to learn a variety of different woodworking joints, growing from basic at the base and increasing in complexity and difficulty as you work your way up.

The second workshop went deeper into Japanese traditional carpentry and specifically the building process Yama-san uses for the homes and structures he builds. To illustrate the basic components and connections for this style of building, everyone worked on a scale model of a wall structure you would find in a traditional home. (I forgot to take photos of the first week’s joinery tree, but you can see plenty of detail shots of the advanced workshop wall model towards the bottom of this post.) The model that Yama-san and I built for demonstration purposes also included the applition of earthen plaster which was applied by Ziggy. Ulitimately he’s going to apply a few more finish layers of plaster but leave a portion of each layer exposed so you can see a cutaway view of the plaster layers and bamboo structure.

Last but not least, the food which April prepared for us 3 times a day was truly a highlight of the whole experience. All the meals April cooked were fantastic, and she often used local and homegrown incredients. One of the most memorable meals was ramen… a rare treat for rural Kentucky (Ziggy even made the noodles which were spot on!).

Anyhow, below you can see plenty of photo highlights from both workshops. Yama-san and I are planning to head back for a few more workshops next year so if you’d like to participate stay tuned.