Kesen Carpentry

History and Legacy

　Kesen Carpentry (Kesen Daiku) is the name for a school of carpentry from the Kesen Region (present-day Rikuzentakata, Ofunato, and Sumita) in Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan. The Kesen Carpenters, who were skilled in all areas of carpentry, from houses and temples to furniture and small trinkets, mostly earned their money by traveling “southward” toward the capital and working away from home.

　The Kesen Region is very mountainous and not well-suited for agriculture, which caused the area to undergo periods of famine. In order to adapt to these conditions, the people who would become the Kesen Carpenters turned to artisanship instead of agriculture as a means of survival. The breadth of travel for the Kesen Carpenters grew larger and larger as their profits increased and as the local network of trains and railways expanded during the Meiji Era (1868-1912), and remnants of their work can be found all over Japan and even as far away as mainland Asia.

　As the Kesen Carpenters returned home from their travels they would share the techniques they learned as proudly as if they were fine silks, and eventually this process led to Kesen Carpentry developing its own unique and distinguished methods and style. Nowadays, Kesen Carpentry is known for not using any nails, screws, or glue and relying only on meticulously measured interlocking parts to keep its structures together.

Kesen Carpentry on display at Fumonji Temple

　There are several structures built by the Kesen Carpenters that exist to this day, including everything from private homes to famous temples. The oldest among them is the Former Arikabe-juku Honjin, a special type of inn for military leaders that was built in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture in the year 1744. Other prominent structures include the main hall and three-story-pagoda on the grounds of Fumonji Temple in Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture.

The Kesen Carpentry and Folklore Museum

　The Kesen Carpentry and Folklore Museum was built on the side of Mt. Hakone in Rikuzentakata in the year 1992 as a way to preserve Kesen Carpentry techniques and showcase them to current and future generations. The museum was built using traditional techniques and local materials, and was modeled after the style of a manor home from the early Meiji Era. While not a museum in the traditional sense, the Kesen Carpentry and Folkore Museum offers a place for visitors to view Kesen Carpentry with their own eyes, take in the beautiful view of central Rikuzentakata from Mt. Hakone, and chat with museum staff about the surrounding area, past and present.

The Kesen Carpentry and Folklore Museum

　The Kesen Carpentry and Folklore Museum is also home to the Light of Hope, a memorial for the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami disaster of 2011, which consists of a flame taken from a memorial in Kobe, Japan, that honors the victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. On the day of the earthquake in 2011, the Kesen Carpentry and Folklore Museum experienced severe shaking, but suffered no damage due to the unique strengths of Kesen Carpentry techniques. In the weeks following the earthquake and tsunami, the museum operated as a shelter for many families whose houses had been heavily damaged or swept away.

Present Day and Beyond

　While the peak period of output for the Kesen Carpeners may be long behind us, there are still Kesen Carpenters who continue to work to this day in the city of Rikuzentakata and other places in the Kesen Region. It is the hope of those carpenters and other Kesen locals that Kesen Carpentry will continue to find successors and new students who will learn these unique techniques and keep the art-form alive for many generations to come.