The Concept

In 2019 we co-founded the School of Traditional Building Arts (Shin-Machiya Juku) in Kyoto to teach rapidly disappearing building skills to young working tradespeople (carpenters, plasterers, etc.)

Opportunity to Grow

"My training at Shin-Machiya Juku let me fulfill what I thought was an "impossible dream' of becoming a master carpenter."



Our school fulfills the growing demand for fine quality traditional construction by teaching nearly forgotten skills and giving young tradespeople a direct path to mastery. Our intensive yearlong courses are held on Sundays to accommodate young working building trades people. Currently we are teaching joinery to carpenters and bamboo mud wall construction to plasterers. An advanced course in Japanese garden building and maintenance as well as training course in the application of natural lacquer are scheduled for 2022. JapanCraft21 provides full scholarships to all students.