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Shitaji-Mado

I have finally got around to finishing off the machiai by installing the missing wall complete with a shitaji-mado. The Shitaji-mado is a built-in bamboo window lattice - originally made by leaving a gap in the mud plaster on a bamboo lattice wall.

My original plan was to build a round window but when you are sitting in the machiai it would either have been too high to view the garden through or if low enough to do that then it would have been half way down the wall and looked proportionally wrong. Every image I have seen of a machiai with a Shiatji-mado have always had rectangular windows - I assume because of this.

cutting out the boardsThe wall was built by screwing strips of wood around the upper, back and lower beams. Then two marked up pieces of board were cut out including the hole for the window. The front edge was shaped to fit the profile of the silver birch column at the front of the machiai.

Window frame is addedThe outside board was then glued and screwed into place as were the wood strips around the window opening and down the front edge.

Inside board was addedThe inside board was then glued and screwed into place. Some trimming was required as despite all my excellent measuring it didn't quite fit! I then used filler to cover all the edge gaps and get the frame smooth. This part alone took me two evenings and is always worth spending time over as will ensure a good finish.

Sanding down the edgesAfter the glue had set the window frame was sanded down and the edges rounded off slightly. Don't forget to wear eye protectors, as I always do (cough).

The wall paintedThe wall was then painted with two coats of Sandtex Exterior paint, magnolia to match the other walls of the machiai, and left to dry between each.

Shitaji-mado sketchI sketched out how I wanted the Shitaji-mado to look. The width of the opening in the wall was split into 12 equal sections with a vertical bamboo lattice at the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th and 10th positions. The height was also sectioned using the same distance between as the width (actually it was 38mm) and the horizontal lattices planned in the 3rd, 4th, 7th, 19th and 20th postitions.

The frame was makrked upThe frame was then marked up with the positions and drilled. The vertical holes were set off centre on the inside and the horizontal offcentre on the outside so that they butted up when crossing each other.

The bamboo was harvested from our gardenI went and collected some local bamboo for the lattices. When I say local - it's growing behind the machiai! I wanted to use our own bamboo and it is not perfectly straight but I was willing to compromise.

Bamboo latices tested in placeI used masking tape and placed each lattice to ensure it looked ok and then drilled the holes and glued the bamboo lattices in place.

finished view of Shitaji-madoThe bamboo is freshly cut so is green and I am not sure what is going to happen over the next few weeks other than it will turn bamboo light brown. They may shrink slightly but I have plenty more bamboo if it all goes wrong!

The full set of pictures is available at its own our shitaji-mado online gallery.

If I had made a round window I had planned to use a square frame inside with a lot of filling. I am glad I opted for the rectangular window now as it looks a lot more authentic. Hopefully this will have encouraged a few others to build their own shitaji-mado.

Posted by Simon at July 10, 2004 1:36 AM

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Comments

1 September 18, 2004 10:02 AM Simon Cox

Todd,
The board was offered up to the tree trunk and a rough shape penciled onto the board. This was then cut out with a jig saw - you can just see the irregular shape in the first image. I had to do quite a bit of fitting, lopping bits off with the jig saw, to get it to fit in place.
I then built the wall and fitted it, as in the article above. The more difficult one was the first wall because the tree trunk was so curved. If you look at the first image in the shitaji-mado online gallery (link in article above) you can see it clearly.

There were some big gaps once the boards had been fitted into place and an hour of careful work with some ordinary filler, wet filler knives and sandpaper got the finish I required.

2 September 18, 2004 12:17 PM Todd

Hi,

I am building my own chashitsu and am wondering how you merged the tree-like logs with the particle board/dry wall. Do you have any techniques to pass along?

Thanks,
Todd