Maniwa: Living from the Forest

70 precent of Japan's land mass is covered by forest.

This environment has given rise to a distinctive culture based on wood.

Michael Keida is from the US who has lived in Japan for 16 years now.

He's also a keen home woodworker.

It's so relaxing.

It's the smell of the hinoki,

and the warmth of this bath is just absolutely perfect.

Skilled wood artisans prepare beautiful works of intricate craftsmanship

using high-quality timber

from forests that have been cultivated this way for centuries.

Selecting timber is different each time.

That's why I always look forward to it.

Now, this same timber is being used to create architecture of the future.

- They're like an artwork.
- Yes, it's the art of nature.

This is all dyed with hinoki bark, even the gray and dark brown parts.

On this edition of "Journeys in Japan,"

exploring the roots of Japan's wood culture

in the hills of Okayama Prefecture.

Maniwa
Living from the Forest

Some 550 kilometers west of Tokyo,

in the north of Okayama Prefecture,

lies the city of Maniwa.

It's one of Japan's largest producers of timber.

Here I'm in Katsuyama which is located in Maniwa City.

When I first came to Japan, I was fascinated by how the homes, temples,

and even the daily utensils are made out of wood.

I'm told that in this area, the tradition of growing, producing

and bringing wood to market is still carried on to this day.

I'm going to go check it out.

In the historic Katsuyama district,

the townscape has changed little over the past 200 years.

The lattice doors and white walls have been preserved just the way they were.

- This is a lovely building.
- Yes. Katsuyama is known as a "timber town."

That's because so much wood was used.

It's like being in a movie.

Katsuyama used to be a castle town.

And it was a post town too.

That's why there are so many shops here.

It was also a center for the timber trade.

That brought prosperity to the town.

This was the wharf, where goods were loaded for shipping downstream.

The Asahi River running through the town is one of Okayama's best-known rivers

and was used to ship goods to the coast, and from there, all over the country.

Much of that freight consisted of wood products.

This timber merchant in Maniwa stocks many different kinds of wood

which have long been used for building not just houses,

but also Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.

What makes Japanese timber different from any other wood?

After World War Two,

the trees we planted were mostly hinoki (cypress) and sugi (cedar).

But the trees growing wild also have their use.

For example, for places that are humid, chestnut wood is extremely durable.

The quality of each kind of wood determines the way we use it.

Even in wood from the same cedar tree you will see variations in the color.

Since the old days,

each piece of wood is used according to its own distinctive features.

The old Senkyo Elementary School dates back to 1907.

It's built entirely of wood,

and highlights the traditional skills of the artisans in this area.

If you look at the ceiling,

you can see it's made from cedar wood that has no knots.

These are very precious boards that can be obtained from only a very few logs.

That's why the grain is so beautifully aligned.

These pinewood floorboards are unusually wide.

The wood is absolutely... It's so...

You can tell it's been worn through the years of so many children,

little feet walking on it. Wow. It's so smooth.

Let's go up to the second floor.

The pine stair treads are wonderful too.

- They're like an artwork.
- Yes, it's the art of nature.

This is the central room of the building.

This ceiling here is also amazing.

It was constructed without using any nails.

It's all held together with interlocking joints.

It was made by artisans trained in temple carpentry.

It's hard to believe that an elementary school

would be made by trained temple carpenters.

The way the wood curves is beautiful.

This school building embodies all the finest woodworking skills of that era.

This school was used right until 1990.

In fact, I was in the last group of graduates.

The classrooms are along here.

This was where I studied.

It looks like there's a name carved here.

When the classes were boring, we would often mess around.

These desks took a beating from all those dull classes!

By the end, the school was very old.

And in winter it got really cold.

For the children, going to an old school like this can't have been much fun.

After we became adults, we realized how special this school is.

Now we treasure it.

Later it was designated a national cultural property.

I was really surprised when I heard about that.

About 80 percent of the land in Maniwa is forest,

most of it woodland that has been planted and maintained by the foresters.

The trees in this forest are 40 to 45 years old.

The ones with pointed tops are still getting bigger.

Those with rounded tops will soon stop growing.

The tree stumps here show where the woodland has been thinned.

Although large-scale clearcutting is more efficient,

it takes a long time for an entire area of forest to grow back.

Since the old days, the people of Maniwa have thinned the forest

as it's more sustainable for the environment.

Have people in Maniwa been foresters since the old days?

Yes, from a very long time ago.

People here are very keen on forestry.

That's why we like to cultivate our forests.

Do people in Maniwa want to continue with forestry?

Of course.

This carefully tended timber is brought into the town

and put up for sale about three times a month.

You have a huge amount of timber outside.

We're preparing for tomorrow's market.

The timber is brought down from the forests,

and we have to sort it by size and the type of tree.

Every day, about 40 truckloads of timber arrive here.

It is graded according to the type of wood,

as well as for thickness and quality.

These are for making 10.5 cm square-sawn lumber.

This is all A-grade timber.

These are C-grade.

The logs are downgraded if they have a bend in them.

- This one isn't perfectly round.
- That's right. That makes it a lower grade.

On the day of the market, people gather from sawmills around Japan.

They inspect the timber, checking each piece carefully.

What do you look for when you choose timber?

I'm always looking for the right wood for the right job.

Trees that have been well maintained.

Are there any good ones here?

The timber from Maniwa is good quality with few wormholes.

Selecting timber is different each time.

That's why I always look forward to it.

What are you looking for today?

Any timber that's good.

I'm checking everything.

Do you think you'll find anything good?

It depends on the price, and on the bidding.

Thank you all for coming here today.

This is ¥29,000 (US$220).

These are ¥25,000 (US$190).

The timber is priced per cubic meter.

It's so fast, it's absolutely... It's so fast

I'm having a hard time keeping up with them.

It's amazing. They're really kind of working together.

And this is ¥ 33,000 (US$250).

These logs are A-grade hinoki cypress grown thick and straight.

There is strong demand for timber of this quality.

All the timber sold out in just 30 minutes.

In total, the value of the transactions on this day

came to about $300,000.

From here, the timber is taken to sawmills

and processed for use in many different ways.

One outstanding form of Japanese wood craftsmanship

can still be found in Maniwa.

I'd like to see how kumiko fretwork is made.

Kumiko originated around 1,400 years ago.

Kumiko fretwork is a traditional form of decorative woodworking

used in Japanese architecture for room partitions.

In the old days the adhesives were poor quality.

So the wood had to be held together by interlacing joints.

Then we insert even finer strips of wood.

- So you don't use glue either?
- Of course not.

The pieces are generally 6 to 9 millimeters thick.

The thinnest ones are 3 mm. Here, we use 3 mm pieces.

But we wanted to make the detail finer.

So we tried to use thinner pieces.

We want it to be as expressive as painting.

Here we're working on a piece.

It is made from wood cut into slivers

just eight-tenths of a millimeter in size.

It requires accuracy to the width of a single hair.

Michael, would you like to try?

Thank you, I would.

All right, this looks much easier than when she was doing it,

but now I'm having a plenty hard time doing this.

Oh, wait. I got the wrong direction.

Okay.

That's much harder than I thought it would be.

My hands are already cramping up.

In a whole day, I could only do about this much.

How much can you finish in one day?

For this size and pattern, one day would be enough.

In Maniwa, the kumiko fretwork is all done by hand.

There's a wide range of designs which are still popular in Japanese houses.

Another essential part of traditional Japanese culture

is bathing in bathtubs made out of hinoki cypress.

Hello. Thank you for visiting.

Amazing. It's all made of wood.

It was made by the Maniwa craftsmen, entirely from wood grown in Maniwa.

What a scent of hinoki cypress!

The rim of the bathtub is made from wild hinoki.

And so are the walls.

- Is the ceiling made from hinoki as well?
- Yes, it is.

This is the same fine-grained wood used for the rim of the tub.

The growth rings are amazing.

The tree must have been very old.

It has an excellent aroma.

So, even wearing my mask, I can

really smell the hinoki come through.

Oh, it smells great.

Hinoki is known for its insect-repelling and antibacterial properties.

Best of all, it has a beautiful fragrance

that helps bathers to refresh and relax.

It's so relaxing.

It's the smell of the hinoki,

and the warmth of this bath is just absolutely perfect.

In Maniwa, efforts are also being made to make use of all the wood offcuts.

One new approach is to turn it into biomass chips for generating electricity.

The wood that can't be processed is collected here.

It can't be used as lumber?

If they are curved or rotten, the logs can't be used.

So we turn them into wood chips to use as fuel to produce electricity.

This is the fuel for generating electricity.

This biomass power plant generates 10,000 kilowatts,

enough electricity for 22,000 households.

Meanwhile, new building materials are being developed in Maniwa.

The CLT panels in our office are over 10 meters wide.

Is the ceiling made of one panel?

This building is 30 meters long.

So it's made from three panels.

I've never seen a wooden structure with such a spacious open area.

It couldn't have been built using conventional wood construction methods.

This only became possible by developing better designs and new materials.

Cross laminated timber, or CLT,

is made by gluing together wooden boards laid out

so the grain of each runs perpendicular to the adjacent layers.

Besides being light and easy to handle,

these panels have many advantages compared to concrete.

Is this building earthquake resistant?

Wood is flexible and absorbs energy.

So it's highly resistant.

Moreover, it insulates better than concrete,

so that reduces our electricity bills.

This pavilion made with CLT was erected in Tokyo

during the Olympic Games.

Later, it was moved and reassembled in Maniwa

where it's used to promote the city's biomass project.

It's so peaceful here.

Just the natural light coming through

and a light breeze passing by.

It's so relaxing.

Traditionally, each part of the timber has its own use,

and that spirit continues here.

This studio in the Katsuyama district produces cloth noren,

traditional shop curtains.

Why did you open this shop?

When I returned to Katsuyama, I could smell the fragrance of the hinoki wood.

At night, the air was full of the scent of hinoki drying in the sawmills.

That aroma gave me the idea of using hinoki for dyeing.

At the time I was running a liquor store,

so I had the idea to make a noren (shop curtain).

I got hold of some bark.

For the sawmills, hinoki and sugi bark are just trash.

They were happy to give it to me.

As dyes, they produced excellent hues.

I have a kimono woven from thread dyed with hinoki.

Would you like to see it?

This was dyed with hinoki?

It was all dyed with hinoki bark, even the gray and dark brown parts.

After that, other shops wanted noren shop curtains.

So I shut the liquor store, and turned it into a studio.

It developed into this shop,

selling noren curtains and other dyed textile items.

The idea of producing noren curtains

began as a way to make use of the offcuts of hinoki wood.

Now the craft has spread, and Katsuyama is known as the town of noren.

Trees played an integral role

in our comfort and survival since the beginning of time.

We've used them for food and shelter,

for tools and fuel,

not to mention fresh air and cool shade.

Japan in particular has had a long tradition of using these tools

in their culture and daily life.

But recent trends in technology have reduced our need for using trees.

When I came to Maniwa, I was pleasantly surprised

to see that the wood culture still thrives today.

I was inspired to see that the people here

are finding new and inventive ways to make usage

of this great sustainable resource.

Like the mighty hinoki,

I hope that their message continues to grow,

and helps the rest of us to keep

our long-standing connection to trees.

To reach Maniwa from Tokyo,

you can take the Shinkansen bullet train

to Okayama.

From there, it's about two hours by bus.