Sharing Japanese Craft. Teaching attention, focus and aesthetic tradition.

Let’s build in harmony with nature, accepting of impermanence and imperfection, and finding peace in the quiet act of creating with our hands.

Our mission is to share Japanese disciplines, including woodworking, carpentry, metalworking, ceramics, and traditional crafts through hands-on workshops and apprenticeships. We exist to teach attention, focus, and an aesthetic that yields whole-life engagement in a culture of creation.

Construction workers wearing safety helmets and harnesses assembling a wooden structure outdoors with trees in the background.

Currently offering multi-day workshops focused on Japanese carpentry, woodworking and natural plastering.

Whether you’ve never held a chisel or are an experienced professional we offer a variety of workshops on tool set-up, Japanese timber framing, plaster work and advanced Japanese joinery. Our summer timber framing workshops accelerate your learning on a real structure, from cutting to final assembly. Come up to Maine and learn Japanese woodworking!

Two men, one with a beard and wearing a red shirt and another younger man in a navy shirt and a wide-brimmed hat, are working outdoors under a canopy. The older man is holding a wooden piece while the younger man observes attentively. There are tools and wood on a table in front.

Help us build a craft community in Maine and support the next generation of craftspeople.

Your donation helps us decouple the cost of tuition from access to education. By funding the school directly, you make it possible for young students and dedicated makers to study regardless of their financial background. Support for the school allows us to bring more teachers from Japan and expand our offerings into the areas of blacksmithing, ceramics, textiles and more.

Wooden framework of a building under construction at the Maine Japanese Woodworking Festival, with a black banner hanging from the structure.

Hosting the fourth annual Maine Japanese Woodworking Festival

Come spend a long weekend immersed in the traditions of Japanese woodworking through hands-on workshops and demonstrations. Work side by side with masters of the craft to develop your skills, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned tradesperson. Handle and acquire finely made tools for your next project, and compete for prizes in the revered planing contest: chasing the thinnest shaving with a Japanese hand plane

“Thank you for creating such a unique, challenging and rewarding experience. At the risk of sounding overly effusive, it was truly life changing for me.”

— Hollee, Japanese Woodworking Bootcamp Alumni

We look forward to practicing with you in Maine!

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