News

"A Kezurist is a person who strives to achieve high skill in planing wood as thin, as wide, and as long as possible using a hand plane. The sense of wood's touch is the Japanese culture. A Kezurist is a person who has the will and drive to pass the skill to the next person. A group of Kezurists is called Kezurou-Kai."

— quote from a T-shirt

In September 2005, Guild members Chris and Diane Feddersohn, Russ Filbeck, and George Arai accompanied 16 other Palomar College instructors, students, and their spouses to Kezurou-Kai in Gotemba, Japan. The 12-day tour was organized by Berkeley, California-based Hida Tool & Hardware.

It was an incredible woodworking journey through heavily forested central Japan. Temples, shrines, castles, hot springs, and gardens were fascinating, but the highlights for this group were visits to tool wholesalers, blacksmiths, carpenter shops, and the woodworking students at Agematsu Technology School. The tour ended at Kezurou-Kai 2005, a celebration of fine woodworking tools, contests, knowledge, and cherished friendships. More than 600 participants enjoyed the event. Kezurou-Kai is held twice a year in Japan, and it has also been held twice Stateside, at Palomar College (www.palomar.edu/woodworking) in North San Diego County.

The next Japan tour is planned for March 16-25. So far, we know this: since this next year marks the tenth anniversary of Kezurou-Kai, it will be a special meeting. This year, participants will build a portable shrine in the city of Inuyama, in the middle of Honshu, the main island. Much in the spirit of the Guild Habitat frames, carpenters will make parts at home, bring them, and put them together at the conference.

Portable shrines are for festivals and parades; people can either pull them or carry them. This one will be a pulled shrine at half-scale (12 ft. tall), and it will have the traditional pull shrine feature of moving parts -- you might push a button and a door will open and a dog will pop out -- a sort of cuckoo-dog. The Kezurou-Kai members plan to donate the shrine to the city. (This is deeply appropriate, as the name of the city means Dog Mountain, and this is the year of the dog!)

In addition to Kezurou-Kai, Hida Tool plans to tour Inuyama Castle. The tour will move to Takayama, where Hida is from. It's a very old, very well preserved mountain town. They will also visit the city of Shirakawago, a world heritage site and city full of thatch-roofed houses. Other details are still being settled. There is room for about 30 on the tour. For more information, ask Yuka Johnson at Hida Tool & Hardware, 800/443-5512, hidatool@hidatool.com.