This book isn't just about shouji making! It introduces how to use Japanese tools in a more specific situation than shown in "Japanese Woodworking Tools."

I just happened to fell in love with this auther, so I ordered without even checking the content. And I am glad that I did....

Below is the comment on the back of this book, which I think is a very good summary of this great book. I would love to meet Odate-san someday, but I don't even know if he is still alive(^^) Thank you so much for writing such wonderful Japanese tool books in English Odate-san!

"The construction of shouji - Japanese sliding doors and screens - requires great skill and attention to detail, however the task is within the reach of amateur woodworkers, and the result will add grace and serenity to any interior.

With Toshio Odate's help woodworkers can tackle this traditional craft with confidence. Odate, who served a craftsman's apprenticeship during his youth, unites traditional insight and technical mastery in a way that anyone can understand. Step-by-step instructions, illustrated by photos taken at every stage of the work, give detailed information on how to prepare materials, lay out joints, cut the parts, and assemble two shoji projects: the common sliding screen with hipboard, plus an intricate transom featuring the beautiful asanoha (hemp leaf) pattern. Building on this foundation, Odate gives construction details and notes on eight shoji variations. Technical chapters cover the Japanese mortise-and-tenon joint, shoji paper, and homemade rice glue.

Drawing upon his unusual life, Odate includes richly moving stories of his sometimes harsh apprenticeship in post-War Japan, an era almost incomprehensibly far from our own. These revelations help put traditional Japanese woodworking techniques and attitudes into their cultural context. Odate's authentic account thus will enhance every woodworker's library.

Toshio Odate gives seminars on Japanese woodworking throughout the United States and Europe (come to Oz Odate-san!!) He also teaches sculpture and 3-dimentional design at the Pratt Institution in Brooklyn, NY. He has written articles for Fine Woodworking magazine, American Woodworker, Woodwork, and Woodshop News, and is the author of Japanese Woodworking Tools: Their Tradition, Spirit, and Use(also published by Linden). Odate lives in Woodbury, Conneticut."