Traditional Japanese Carpentry School - Pagoda Build

Exclusive: Traditional Japanese Carpentry - July 2020 Pagoda Build in Kannamachi, Gunma, Japan.

In this video, we get a chance to take a behind the scenes look at how a pagoda is built in Japan. In July 2020, we visited a Traditional Japanese Carpentry School based in Japan where as a project the students, along with the guidance of master carpenters, built a 5-tier pagoda in Kannamachi, Gunma, Japan. This rare video was shot on location on a rural hillside in Kannamachi. The wood used for this pagoda was locally sourced in Kannamachi with the center pillar coming from Wakayama Prefecture.

Some of the wood structure was processed in Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan by carpenters from Fujimoto Traditional Carpentry. Some of the carpenters at this company are also part of the school. The remaining wood structure was finished in Kannamachi by students from the school. The processing took several weeks, but the build took two days. In this video, we show some of the processing techniques and footage of the build.

The pagoda will eventually become the focal point of a future park that is planned to built in the coming year.