Making Shoji

The construction of shoji--Japanese sliding doors--requires intricate skills and attention to detail. This guide to creating shoji brings together both traditional insight and technical mastery of the craft from the perspective of an apprenticed sliding-door maker. Step-by-step instructions, illustrated with photos of each work in progress, give detailed information on how to construct both common shoji and Japanese transom (a piece found between rooms and above sliding doors). The correct use of Japanese tools is discussed, as are techniques for marking lines, making specific joints and handles, using rice glue, and applying shoji paper.

Toshio Odate gives seminars on Japanese woodworking throughout the United States and Europe. He also teaches sculpture and 3-dimensional design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.