MAKING SHOJI (障子) WINDOWS | JAPANESE WOODWORKING

In this video I am Making Shoji Windows for a Yoga Zen Room ~ Made by RAW Frames Handcrafted

A shoji (障子) is a door, window or room divider used in traditional Japanese architecture, consisting of translucent (or transparent) sheets on a lattice frame. Shoji usually slide, but may occasionally be hung or hinged, especially in more rustic styles.

Shoji are very lightweight, so they are easily slid aside, or taken off their tracks and stored in a closet, opening the room to other rooms or the outside. In modern construction, the shoji often do not form the exterior surface of the building; they sit inside a sliding glass door or window.

Shoji are valued for not setting a sharp barrier between the interior and the exterior; outside influences such as the swaying silhouettes of trees, or the chorus of frogs, can be appreciated from inside the house. As exterior walls, shoji diffuse sunlight into the house; as interior partitions between rooms, they allow natural light deep into the interior. While shoji block wind, they do allow air to diffuse through, important when buildings were heated with charcoal. Like curtains, shoji give visual privacy, but they do not block sounds. Shoji are also thought to encourage a home's inhabitants to speak and move softly, calmly, and gracefully, an important part of the ethos behind sukiya-zukuri architecture.

The shoji frame is a panel called a kōshi . It is assembled from interlocking laths of wood or bamboo called kumiko. "Kumiko" literally means "woven"; the halved joints alternate in direction so that the laths are interwoven. The interweaving is structural, and the paper (which is tensioned by spraying it with water) further strengthens the finished panel. No fasteners are traditionally used to hold the frame together. Rice glue can also be used in the frame joints.

Washi paper from Japan is used in these Shoji Windows and is traditionally made from kōzo (mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera), mitsumata (Edgeworthia papyrifera) or gampi (Wikstroemia canescens), or hemp fibers and it is sold in a broad range of types.

You can purchase this Washi Paper as well as many of tools used in this video from Japanese Tools Australia, see link below:

https://www.japanesetools.com.au