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Presentation on Traditional Japanese Boat Building May 1

Story posted April 28, 2008

Chokkibune.jpg
Chokkibune, courtesy of www.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com.

Boat builder Douglas Brooks will give a presentation titled "An Apprentice Boat Builder in Japan" at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 1, 2008, in Cleaveland Hall, Room 151.

Brooks's presentation, which will include a lecture with slides and discussion on the history and current status of boat building, an ancient art in Japan, is open to the public. Admission is free.

Japan has a rich history of traditional arts and crafts, many of which are fast disappearing as modernization has broken down the traditional apprentice system. Brooks has apprenticed with four boat builders in Japan since 1996, building five types of Japanese boats. In this slide talk he will share his experiences with traditional crafts drawn from over a dozen trips to Japan.

Brooks specializes in the construction of traditional wooden boats for museums and private clients. He served as the museum boat builder at the National Maritime Museum in San Francisco from 1985 to1990 and has since built boats at museums in Japan and across the United States. He teaches classes in boat building and regularly publishes articles on his research.

In addition to building replicas of North American boats, Douglas has been researching traditional Japanese boat building since 1990, focusing on the techniques and design secrets of the craft. These techniques have been passed from master to apprentice with almost no written record.

Brooks's first book, The Tub Boats of Sado Island: A Japanese Craftsman's Methods, was published in Japan in 2003.

Brooks is a graduate of Trinity College and of the Middlebury College Language School (Japanese). He lives in Vergennes, Vermont. To learn more about his research on traditional Japanese boat building, visit www.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com.

The presentation is sponsored by the Bowdoin College Asian Studies Program. For more information call 412-860-3565.

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