Carpenter - Daiku

A craftsman of wooden architecture. In the 5th century, they were called kodakumi (woodworker). Around the 8th century, carpenter (daikou) was the job title of the highest technical official, and there were carpenters for each of the following professions: woodworking, blacksmithing, and wall plastering. In the 11th century, carpenters became an independent craft, and were also called banjo (craftsmen) because they were assigned to work on a shift for certain periods of the year. Then, in the 16th century, carpenters and banjo came to be commonly referred to as daiku (carpenters). From this time on, architectural technology made great strides, firstly with the establishment of kiwarijutsu (a method of determining the proportions of the size of each building component; in other words, the size of the components is determined based on the diameter of the pillars and the spacing between the pillars). Furthermore, in the 18th century, the art of rulership, a graphical method of solving three-dimensional geometry, was systematized, and as a result, work methods became even more advanced. This inevitably led to the differentiation of craftsmen into specialized house carpenters, palace carpenters, ship carpenters, wheel carpenters, waterwheel carpenters, and machine carpenters.

There were many private carpenters, and they were the representative of carpenters, but in the 19th century, influential carpenters' masters and carpenters began to work as contractors as well, and general carpenter work became nothing more than wage work. Furthermore, in modern times, construction companies that originated as contractors placed carpenters and other construction craftsmen in the position of subordinates or subcontractors. This led to a sharp decline in custom-built homes, and even after World War II, new construction methods, the birth of new building materials, and the development of power tools meant that traditional architecture that made use of kiwari and kiku techniques was almost completely obsolete.

Before the 17th century, Miya-daiku mainly built and renovated shrines and temples, but also built ordinary houses. In the early modern period, however, they separated from the residential carpenters and specialized in shrines and temples. In building shrines and temples, traditions must be preserved, and new construction methods cannot be adopted without permission. Today, they are responsible for repairing and renovating shrines and temples, which are cultural assets, and use traditional tools such as spear planes, double-edged blades (ginkgo blades), chisels, and hatchets, and the materials they use are mainly cypress, with limited use to zelkova, camphor, cedar, and pine. In this way, Miya-daiku's traditional techniques are still being passed down to future generations, making their existence valuable.

Shipwrights broke the stagnation of shipbuilding technology in ancient and medieval times, and built semi-structural ships known as the Yamato type in the early modern period. Although the ribs of the Yamato type were immature and childish, the crossbeams served to reinforce the hull, and were a remarkable example of shipbuilding technology at the time. Large cargo ships included the Sengoku-bune, and they also built small and medium-sized ships such as river boats, sekibune (military ships), and cargo boats. The materials used differed between seagoing and river boats, with camphor and zelkova being the main materials used for the former, and cypress and cedar being used for both. In terms of technique, they naturally relied on wood splitting and the art of measuring wood, but they were not subject to the strict constraints of the palace carpenters, and made extensive use of imported compasses.

After the second half of the 19th century, large ships were replaced by steel ships, rather than wooden iron ships, so shipwrights were limited to building small and medium-sized wooden cargo ships, fishing boats, river boats, etc. Furthermore, in modern times, small and medium-sized ships also became equipped with motors, and new orders for shipwrights came to a halt. Moreover, unlike palace carpenters, they do not have jobs such as repairing cultural properties, so their traditional skills are steadily declining.

[Motoo Endo]

"Carpenters in the Edo Period" by Nishi Kazuo (1980, Gakugei Publishing)" "The Craftsmen of Ikaruga: Three Generations of Shrine Carpenters" by Nishioka Tsunekazu and Aoyama Shigeru (1977, Tokuma Shoten) " "Ships" edited by Sudo Toshikazu (Cultural History of Things and Humans 1, 1968, Hosei University Press)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

木造建築の職人。5世紀には木工(こだくみ)とよばれた。8世紀ごろ、大工(だいこう)とは技術官人の最高者の職名であり、木工・鍛冶(かじ)や壁塗（左官）職のそれぞれに大工(だいこう)が存在した。11世紀になって木工は独立した職人となって、年間のうち一定期間を上番して労務にあたるところから番匠(ばんじょう)ともよばれた。そして、16世紀に入ってから、一般に木工・番匠を大工と呼び習わすようになった。このころより建築技術は長足の進歩を遂げ、まず木割(きわり)術（建築各部材の大きさの割合を決める工法。つまり柱の径、柱間などを基準にして部材の大きさを決定する）が確立された。さらに、18世紀には、立体幾何の図式解法である規矩(きく)術が体系づけられ、それに伴い工作法も一段と高度化し、必然的に専門の家大工、宮大工、船大工、車大工、水車大工、機大工などに分化していった。

　家大工は数も多く、大工といえば家大工が代表格であったが、19世紀になると有力な大工の親方や棟梁(とうりょう)が請負師の職も兼ねるようになったため、一般の大工の仕事は賃仕事でしかなくなった。さらに、近代に至って請負師を源流とする建設業者により、大工をはじめとする建設職人は下職または下請けといった立場に置かれた。これにより住宅の注文建築は激減し、さらに第二次世界大戦後に至り、新しい建築工法、新建材の誕生、電動工具の開発などによって、木割・規矩術を生かした伝統的建築はほとんどみることができなくなってきている。

　宮大工は、17世紀以前、社寺の建築・改築を主なる業として、このほかに一般の住宅建築も行っていた。それが近世以後は住宅専門の家大工と分離し、社寺専門となった。社寺の建築においては、伝統を守らなければならず、やたらに新しい工法を取り入れることは許されない。今日、彼らは、文化財である社寺の修理・改築等を受け持つが、工具は伝統の槍鉋(やりがんな)、両刃（銀杏(いちょう)刃）、鑿(のみ)、手斧(ちょうな)などを使い、用材もヒノキを主とし、ケヤキ、クスノキ、スギ、マツなどに限定されている。このように宮大工に関しては、伝統技術は現在も後の世代に受け継がれており、その存在は貴重といえよう。

　船大工は、古代・中世における造船技術の停滞を打ち破って、近世に大和(やまと)型とよぶ準構造船をつくった。大和型とは、肋(ろく)材は未熟・幼稚な代物であったものの、横木（ぬき）が船体補強の役割を果たす、当時としては注目に値する造船技術の粋といえた。大型荷船としては千石船があり、このほかに川船、関船(せきぶね)（軍船）、荷船など中小型船もつくった。用材は海船と川船では違い、前者の場合はクスノキ・ケヤキを、後者ではマキを中心に使用し、ヒノキ・スギは両方に使ったとする。技術面では、当然、木割・規矩術に頼ったが、宮大工のように厳しい制約はなく、外来のコンパスも大いに利用した。

　19世紀後半以後、大型船は木造鉄船を経て鉄鋼船となったため、船大工は木造の中小荷船、漁船、川船などをつくるのみとなった。さらに現代に至ると、中小型船も原動機付きとなり、船大工に対する新規注文はばったりとだえた。しかも、彼らには宮大工のように文化財補修というような仕事もないため、伝統的技術は衰退の一途をたどっている。

［遠藤元男］

『西和夫著『江戸時代の大工』（1980・学芸出版社）』▽『西岡常一・青山茂著『斑鳩の匠・宮大工三代』（1977・徳間書店）』▽『須藤利一編「船」（『ものと人間の文化史 1』1968・法政大学出版局）』

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