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  • The Shed

    KUMIKO: THE FINE ART OF FRICTION

    Jun 20, 2022 5 minutes
    By Nigel Young
    Photographs: Nigel Young

    I’m coming to the conclusion that Japanese culture is primarily about art, and how to express just about anything, beautifully.

    Presentation, balance, and tension, precision and scale — much of it going back hundreds of years, and still as relevant now as it was then. Take the technique known as kumiko, which a very brief and totally inadequate Wikipedia article describes as:

    … a Japanese technique of assembling wooden pieces without the use of nails. Thinly slit wooden pieces are grooved, punched and mortised, and then fitted individually using a plane, saw, chisel and other tools to make fine adjustments. The technique was developed in Japan in the Asuka era (AD 600–700).

    Centuries-old patterns

    Kumiko panels slot together and remain in place through pressure alone. That pressure is achieved through meticulous calculating, cutting, and arranging. The end result is a complex pattern that is used primarily in the creation of shoji doors and screens. The designs for kumiko pieces aren’t

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