Timber and Trees

For those of you who were keen to know about the wood being used in the house here's a little run down of what I know so far - but first! A note on the dining table. It's made form a single piece of keyaki wood. Keyaki is prized in Japan for making tansu - or Japanese cabinets - like this one:

Photo: Kraig Donald

According to a friend of Kaoru's who is a biologist and specialist in trees and timber, keyaki normally grows straight, so a piece of wood that has multiple cores means that the tree probably had some kind of stress during its life that made it stronger. 

From Wikipedia - ""Noma Keyaki", a 1,000-year old keyaki in Nose near Osaka in Japan, 25 m tall, 11.95 m trunk circumference; second-largest known specimen."

Onto another type of wood, there is one that is particularly interesting. "Hinoki" is used to line the storage areas of the house - mould hates it. Very smart! Hinoki is a Cypress tree native to central Japan, often called Japanese Cedar:

Photo: 陳炬燵

The floors will be "ナラ" (Nara), which is Japanese Oak. The trees look like this:

A Nara, or Japanese Oak, tree. Source: http://www.shirakabanosho.co.jp/meisho.htm

The 'donguri', or acorns. Source: http://www2.city.kurashiki.okayama.jp/musnat/plant/bungakusakuhin/issasyuu.htm

Another Nara tree. Source: http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/sakanablog2/diary/?ctgy=6

Flooring:

An example of Nara flooring. Source: http://www.maedamokuzai.com/nara_list.html

An example of Nara floor boards. Source: http://item.rakuten.co.jp/manmoku/100027/

One more type of wood that will be used is Sugi, is also a species of cypress. This is a softer wood, but much thicker slabs of it are used, so it is perfect for staircases. Here is a picture of a very old and rare piece of sugi - very beautiful!

Sugi, or Japanese Cypress. Source: http://www.burgesswoodworks.com/gallery/JapaneseWood20060514/images/SugiBurl2.jpg

This is the oldest known specimen of a Sugi. Source: http://www.burgesswoodworks.com/gallery/JapaneseWood20060514/images/SugiBurl2.jpg

I hope that is useful for the wood buffs out there! When I find out more about other types of wood being used, I'll add to this post.