Kumagawa Wasen with Douglas Brooks – The Video Series
In April and May 2023, I travelled to the small town of Oda in Kagawa to spend three weeks working alongside boatbuilder Douglas Brooks on one of the largest projects of his career in Japan.
Douglas had been commissioned to build six traditional wooden boats for Kumagawa Kudari, a river boat company in Kumamoto.
By the time I arrived, he was in the home stretch of boat number three.
Three weeks later, that boat was finished, the fourth was well underway, and we had managed to bring it slightly beyond the stage the third boat had been at when I first walked into the workshop.
In other words, we effectively built the equivalent of an entire boat in three weeks.
Douglas knows what he is doing.
Documenting the Build
While I was there, I had the opportunity to help Douglas document the process on video.
The result is this 11-part series, following the construction of the Kumagawa boats and looking at some of the techniques, decisions and problems involved in building vessels of this scale by hand.
Each episode is around ten minutes long and focuses on a different part of the build.
Along the way, we look at traditional Japanese boatbuilding techniques, the particular construction of these boats, the tools involved, and some of the challenges Douglas has had to solve in order to produce vessels that are not only beautiful, but large, functional and built to work hard.
About the Kumagawa Boats
These are not decorative replicas.
The boats were commissioned for use by Kumagawa Kudari, which operates river trips on the Kuma River in Kumamoto.
That means every decision in the build has a practical consequence. The boats need to perform on the water, carry passengers and stand up to regular commercial use.
At the same time, the project draws heavily on the traditions and construction methods of Japanese wooden boatbuilding.
That balance between traditional knowledge and the demands of a working modern vessel is one of the things that makes the project so interesting.
Working with Douglas Brooks
If this series is your first introduction to Douglas, there is a great deal more of his work worth exploring.
Douglas has spent decades researching, documenting and building traditional boats in Japan, often working directly with craftspeople whose knowledge might otherwise disappear as older generations retire.
His work sits somewhere between boatbuilding, craft research and cultural preservation.
He is not simply studying these boats from a distance. He learns by building them.
And, where possible, he documents the process so that the knowledge is not lost with the last person who knows how a particular boat was made.
You can see more of Douglas's work on his website and Instagram .
Three Weeks in the Workshop
Being part of this project, even for a relatively short period, was an enormous privilege.
There is a big difference between looking at a finished traditional boat and standing in the workshop while one gradually takes shape.
You begin to see how much of the finished form comes from a sequence of very practical decisions: selecting and preparing timber, understanding how a plank will move, fitting large components accurately and knowing when something is close enough — and when it needs another hour with the tools.
It also gives you a much better appreciation for the amount of physical work involved.
These are substantial boats. There is nothing miniature about the timber, the components or the effort required to move them around the workshop.
Watching Douglas work through all of that with the accumulated knowledge of many previous Japanese boatbuilding projects was an education in itself.
The Video Series
The full series is made up of 11 episodes, each roughly ten minutes long.
Rather than trying to turn the build into a polished step-by-step instructional course, the videos follow the work as it happened and highlight the things we found most interesting along the way.
That includes:
- Traditional Japanese boatbuilding methods.
- Working and fitting large timber components.
- The tools used throughout the build.
- Features specific to the Kumagawa boats.
- Problems that emerge during a large hand-built project.
- The decisions required to solve those problems and keep the build moving.
If you have an interest in Japanese tools, wooden boats, traditional craft or simply watching a very skilled maker solve difficult problems, there should be plenty here to enjoy.
Supporting Douglas's Work
Douglas has also documented much of his research and boatbuilding work in a series of books.
If you are in Australia or New Zealand and would like to support his work, you can find the Douglas Brooks titles we carry through Japanese Tools Australia:
If you are elsewhere in the world, his books are also available through other international booksellers and suppliers.
Want to Ride in One?
Of course, there is another way to experience the project.
If you find yourself in Japan, you can visit Kumagawa Kudari and book a trip on the Kuma River.
There is something rather satisfying about watching a boat being built from a stack of timber and then knowing it has gone on to spend its life doing exactly what it was made to do.
A Final Thank You
I was extremely lucky to be invited into this project.
A massive thank you to Douglas Brooks for having me along, putting me to work and tolerating a camera appearing while he was trying to get a very large boat finished.
Thanks also to the many people in Japan who worked with Douglas and helped make the project possible.
It was three weeks I will not forget.
— Mitch