HOMEAt Tanaka Furniture Workshop,
try your hand at traditional woodworking techniques.
Try your hand at
traditional woodworking skills
like planning and using wooden nails!
Experience Nihonmatsu’s 360-year
tradition of furniture making alongside a master craftsman.
Fusing traditional and modern styles
Established in 1869, this furniture workshop and showroom has maintained Nihonmatsu’s traditional techniques and quality while incorporating new designs.
Approx. 10 min. by taxi from JR Nihonmatsu Station. Parking available.
Open 10:00–18:30, closed Wednesdays
http://tanakakagu.jp
What you’ll do
Learn to use a hand plane.
Learn to use a hand plane.
*Planes have sharp blades. Please use with care.
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STEP 1
Hold the plane firmly and press it down hard on the wood surface.
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STEP 2
Pull the plane slowly toward you, hunching over as you do.
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STEP 3
A strip of wood will be shaved cleanly away. Savor the sound of and feel of the blade moving against the wood.
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STEP 4
Keep pressing down and pulling to the very end. Feel the surface of the wood — it’s changed from rough to silky smooth.
Learn to hammer a wooden nail
—the secret to the high quality of Japanese bureaus.
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STEP 1
Use a drill to make a hole for the wooden nail in the bottom of the drawer.
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STEP 2
These are the nails. Handle them with care because they’re very thin.
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STEP 3
Carefully hammer in each nail. If you hit them too hard, they’ll break.
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STEP 4
Hammer until the nail heads are flush with the surface. You’re on your way to becoming a woodworker!!
Please make a reservation three days in advance.
Hours：10:00〜17:30(*Closed Wednesdays and Sundays)
Lesson length：Approx. 40 minutes
Ages：6 and up
*Available for parties of 1 or more.
FREE
Reservations and Information
The drawers on this bureau are air-tight!
Precise workmanship creates the unique air-tight construction of traditional Japanese bureaus, or tansu. The fit is so tight that when a drawer is pushed in, air pressure will push it back out. This incredible precision is the result of a production process in which a single traditionally trained cabinetmaker performs every task, from cutting logs into boards to assembling the furniture.
Are you looking for lots of exciting activities?
Do you want to experience the best Japan has to offer?
And do it all as a family?
You’ll find what you’re looking right here in Nihonmatsu,
where there’s always lots do, see, and learn.
Click here to download an area map！
