Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of mixed information circling the web surrounding what yakisugi “shou sugi ban” siding is, how it is used, and even about wood siding in general.…
Shou Sugi Ban 101 – Nakamoto Forestry
Confused about authentic yakisugi “shou sugi ban”, or charred wood siding in general? Don’t fret. We know it can be confusing and we’re here to help. Interested customers ask us a variety…
The Science Behind Shou Sugi Ban’s Fire Resistance
Over the past ten years, yakisugi “shou sugi ban” has been rapidly gaining popularity in the West. It’s becoming known not only for its beauty, but also for its reputation of being…
Learn the Art and Science of Yakisugi Charred Wood in Architecture
New Online Course now Available for Architects and Designers Happy New Year! To kick off 2025, we’re excited to announce our new continuing education course, hosted by Architectural Record, exploring the fascinating…
Gendai® Sweeps 2024 Product Innovation Awards
Nakamoto Forestry is proud to announce that our Gendai® yakisugi “shou sugi ban” siding has been honored with three prestigious product innovation awards in 2024, solidifying its position as a groundbreaking architectural…
Sugi & Hinoki Win Architect’s Newspaper Awards
We’re excited to announce that both our Sugi Unoiled and Hinoki products took home trophies at The Architect’s Newspaper 2024 Best of Products Awards this year. These natural, unburned wood products are…
Sugi and Hinoki: Japan’s Principal Lumber Species
There are a few dozen primary lumber species grown in the northern hemisphere, and two are indigenous to Japan: sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) and hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa). In this article, we will delve…
Understanding Tree Anatomy in Wood Siding: How Composition Affects Appearance
When looking at a cross-section of a tree trunk, you’ll notice several distinct sections that make up the wood. These sections have different properties and uses when it comes to lumber. In…
Nakamoto Forestry Featured in Builder’s Choice Design Awards
For more than thirty years, the Builder’s Choice Design Awards has celebrated innovation in residential design. A jury of residential architects and designers awards hand-picked projects based on criteria including design excellence,…
Greenwashing in the Building Materials Industry
What is Greenwashing? Greenwashing is the act of conveying false or misleading information in an attempt to capitalize on the growing demand for environmentally friendly products. Although greenwashing may not always be…
Japan’s History of Sustainable Forestry Practices
Japan’s history of forestry is a story of transformation, from an era of scarcity and deforestation to a modern focus on sustainable forestry practices. For centuries, Japan’s forests have been a vital…
Siding and the Wildland Urban Interface
The United States has seen a shocking increase in wildfire in recent years. Along with the increase in wildfires is an increase in new homes within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). The…
Japanese Flame Treated Wood: Understanding the Art of Shou Sugi Ban
The art of Japanese flame treated wood, known as yakisugi in Japan and shou sugi ban elsewhere, is a centuries-old craft that is returning to popularity today. This method of preserving wood…
Setsubun Holiday and the Japanese Tradition of Throwing Beans
Japanese culture includes a multitude of fun and unique traditional events, and Setsubun is no different. It is always the day before the first day of spring in the old Japanese calendar.…
Timber as a Renewable Resource
When managed properly, timber is a valuable renewable resource. By definition, “renewable” means that there is no depletion of the resource. Unlike solar energy and wind, timber is a resource that we…
Discussing Design Inspiration, Taking Risks and Imperfection in Rural Wisconsin
In September 2022, our team journeyed to rural Wisconsin to uncover a hidden gem of modern architecture. The Svart Hus, meaning “dark house” in Swedish, stands at just over 2,600 square feet.…
Cladding and Resistance to Common Pests
Anyone interested in purchasing wood siding for their home would be wise to wonder if they should be concerned about pests. Here at Nakamoto Forestry, we receive far more questions about the…
Seijin no Hi: Coming of Age for Japan’s Youth
In Japan, the second Monday in January is Seijin no Hi or Coming-of-Age Day. This year, Seijin no Hi falls on January 9th. It’s a national holiday and day of celebration for…
Flame Treated Wood
The use of flame treated wood by humans stretches nearly as far back in history as the use of wood itself. People first began modifying wood with fire around 400,000 years ago,…
World Cup Clean Up: Japanese Cleaning Goes Viral
The World Cup in Qatar is making the whole world go wild, and Japan’s national team has been doing well, beating Germany with a surprise comeback in their first game. I personally…
Sustainability of Shou Sugi Ban Siding at Nakamoto Forestry
Shou sugi ban and sustainability go hand-in-hand when done right. It sounds paradoxical to state that our wood shipped from Japan has a lower lifetime carbon footprint than locally harvested wood from…
How Long Does Shou Sugi Ban Last?
Customers often ask us how long shou sugi ban will last. Eighty years is commonly seen on the internet but I am not sure where that specific number came from. I’ve traveled throughout…
A Tour of Stephen Proctor’s Rivendell Home
Form, function and the house of your dreams. On a warm summer evening, we visited Stephen Proctor at his Rivendell project in the hills above the Columbia River. Stephen is a visual…
Real vs. Fake Shou Sugi Ban
Is what you’re looking at real shou sugi ban, with all the durability and beauty of the tradition? Or is it fake shou sugi ban made to look the same in order…
The Original Shou Sugi Ban: 13 Unique Characteristics of Suyaki
The original Japanese shou sugi ban is what we call Suyaki®. The deeply burned and unbrushed exterior siding perfectly epitomizes the wabi-sabi aesthetic. Suyaki is the most easily recognizable and widely known…
Passive House Case Study: Issaquah
The Passive House building standard is the most rigorous in terms of energy efficient design. It leads the industry in both Europe and North America. We recently had the opportunity to check…
Sugi Cypress: Different Uses for this Wonder Wood
Japanese cypress, known in Japan as sugi, is deeply rooted in Japanese culture. Sugi cypress is endemic to the country. You can find sugi in its different forms all over Japan. Its…
6 Real-Life Tips to Hiring the Right Wood Siding Contractor
Contractors are by and far good people that dedicate their lives to making people’s dreams come true. They generally come from a trades background and it’s second nature to them that project…
Shiisaa of Okinawa
Hello friends, in what may be a departure from our normal posts about yakisugi, I would like to instead focus on a cultural peculiarity that I found intriguing during my time spent…
Shiplap or Square Edge?
Choosing a Profile for Shou Sugi Ban Siding 1. Choosing a Shou Sugi Ban Surface for your Project 2. How to Select an Oil Prefinish for Shou Sugi Ban Siding 3. Choosing…
Choosing a Wood Grade for Shou Sugi Ban
Catch up on our product selection walkthrough series here! Part 1: Choosing a Shou Sugi Ban Surface for your Project Part 2: How to Select an Oil Prefinish for Shou Sugi Ban…
How to Select an Oil Prefinish for Shou Sugi Ban Siding
Read: Part 1: How to Select a Shou Sugi Ban Surface for Your Project Last week we covered the first step in selecting shou sugi ban siding for your project–choosing a surface…
Choosing a Shou Sugi Ban Surface for Your Project
A popular question we receive is “what are the different species of wood you use for each of your products?” While it’s a good question, especially since our different shou sugi ban…
Building Materials Comparison: Shou Sugi Ban vs. Other Cladding Options
How Charred Wood Siding Stacks Up Against the Most Popular Construction Materials in the World When designing a home, consideration of building materials is one of the most important tasks of the…
Forest Bathing: A Growing Japanese Trend
Have your friends ever asked you to go forest bathing? Unless your friend is Japanese, the answer is likely no. We all know the refreshing feeling from time spent outdoors surrounded by…
Choosing the Right Nakamoto Forestry Yakisugi “Shou Sugi Ban” Products
Simple Guidance on Choosing the Right Nakamoto Forestry Product for You Choosing a yakisugi (or shou sugi ban) product can be daunting or easy. Use this brief guide to cover the standard…
Shou Sugi Ban vs. Yakisugi: Why We’re Adopting Both Terms for Burned Wood Siding
We haven’t exactly been quiet the past few years about our thoughts on how the term “shou sugi ban” is used to describe burned wood siding. As a proud Japanese brand with…
3 Commercial Shou Sugi Ban Projects to Inspire Your Next Award-Winning Build
Whether your next shou sugi ban project is building a cabin-resort in the woods of Washington state or a bird sanctuary in Pennsylvania, siding is one of the most important elements in…
Charred Wood Siding Color Change
A lot of Westerners considering traditional yakisugi start with the assumption that because it is burned, it will be black and stay black forever without any re-oiling maintenance. This comes from confusion…
The Health Benefits of Interior Wood Paneling
An Explosion in Home Renovations With most of the globe having spent the better part of the past 18 months social distancing, staying indoors and quarantining, it’s no wonder that home renovation…
Japanese Culture: The Actual Meaning of Wabi-Sabi
Every Japanese person intuitively knows about the concept of wabi-sabi. Still, when asked to explain or define it, we cannot put it into a clear and concise definition. Often, when we try…
Slender House by Waechter Architecture and Nakamoto Forestry Featured in Dwell
The local Portland project features Nakamoto Forestry Gendai in Black shou sugi ban siding One of our favorite local Portland projects has been getting some attention recently for its creative modern design…
Shou Sugi Ban Wood: 5 Things Every Architect Should Know Before Specifying
Today’s architects face many challenges. Working with contractors and homeowners, researching new products like shou sugi ban wood, spending countless hours from conceptual drafts to detail diagrams, and of course managing their…
Suzuki+Kidd Architects Suyaki Charred Wood Siding Project Nominated for Office Design Award
Yamato Transport Charred Wood Project Named Finalist in SBID Awards Nakamoto Forestry North America is honored to have our Suyaki shou sugi ban featured in Yamato Transport USA’s recent remodel project. The…
Shou Sugi Ban Siding Maintenance
Wash, Tighten, Re-oil. The main challenge for the North American shou sugi ban market is that it hasn’t been around for very long. Not only have most people never seen charred wood…
DIY: What’s the Best Way to Brush Your Own Shou Sugi Ban?
Setting the Stage Our two main mills in Hiroshima and Tokushima Japan are the largest yakisugi “shou sugi ban” millwork operation in the world, with a proprietary high-volume semi-automated millwork and heat…
DIY: Burning Shou Sugi Ban by the Traditional Japanese Flue Method
The Setup: Research, Preparation and Location are key One of the most interesting things about shou sugi ban is the transformational process used to make it–burning carefully prepared planks with intense heat…
Biophilic Design (and wood)
What is Biophilic Design? Biophilia is the human love of nature. Biophilic design is the practice of consciously incorporating materials or spaces that reinforce our relationship with the living world into the…
Nakamoto Forestry’s European Branch is Now One Year Old!
The Nakamoto Forestry’s EU branch in Düsseldorf, Germany, has now been open for one year and things are ramping up. Martin and Andreas are running a tight ship, having tested and selected…
The Japanese Concept of Mottainai
There are several ubiquitous words in Japanese that are great culture studies. One of the most important is the concept of mottainai. Mottainai represents the concepts of efficiency, modesty, and practicality, all…
Close Up: Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building
We at Nakamoto Forestry North America are incredibly proud to have been a part of this innovative building design. The Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building in Newport, OR is a collaborative effort…
Top 4 Reasons You Should Use Yakisugi (Shou Sugi Ban) for Exterior Wood Siding Projects
Yakisugi, known as “shou sugi ban” in the west, is quickly becoming known worldwide as a great option for exterior wood siding. It’s inexpensive. It’s durable. It’s beautiful. It’s wholesome. But how…
Exterior Yakisugi Weathering: Years 1-3
Today I was getting ready to wash my yakisugi privacy wall in a spring cleanup and started noticing how it is weathering. Then I realized this is good content since weathering is…
Exterior Siding vs Interior Paneling Grade and Installation Tolerance Differences
Holed up during the pandemic this weekend I was at home thinking about blog content ideas and what would benefit our customers the most to share. One of the FAQs on our website…
Shou Sugi Ban Siding: Which End Of The Plank Is Crown-Up And Which End Is Roots-Down?
This post is trivial for most people and is written with traditional tradesmen in mind. You might need to be OCD and infatuated with wood to appreciate this. A little extra care during…
Nakamoto Forestry Yakisugi on a Zero-Energy Project
Our timberland management in Japan is focused on sustainability and our manufacturing side is focused on ethical products for healthy living, so we get excited about passive houses or other types of…
Shou Sugi Ban Wood Longevity Vs. Color Longevity
This is a long and technical one because this subject is important, complex, nuanced and fun. Owners Want Low Maintenance and Beauty Architects and owners come to us for siding that is…
An Outside-The-Box ADU Designed To Maximize Rental Income
We don’t get to meet many of our customers since we have an efficient distribution setup shipping directly throughout North America without a traveling sales team. That makes local projects super fun…
A Tour Of Japan’s Historic Yakisugi
We landed at Tokyo Narita earlier this summer on a cloudy Monday afternoon, legs sore from our ten-hour direct flight from Portland. It was my first experience in Japan, and I was…
Japanese Influence on Western Architecture Part 2: The Early Craftsman Movement
During the transition out of the 19th century and into modernity, Western architects started implementing Japanese architectural styles, details and thought. This was done to further their inspired vision. At the time,…
Japanese Influence On Western Architecture Part 1: The Early Period (Pre-Edo To Craftsmen Movement)
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting Japan, one of the first major differences that you might have noticed is the architecture. Cities such as Tokyo and Osaka that were leveled…
Shou Sugi Ban Durability: How Long Does Yakisugi Last?
Shou Sugi Ban lasts 80 years. That’s the number we hear nearly every day as the benchmark for how long shou sugi ban is supposed to last without maintenance. But how accurate…
Yakisugi vs Shou Sugi Ban: What You Should Call It, and Why
Learn more about the linguistic background and why there is so much confusion between yakisugi and shou sugi ban in North America and Europe. When we started researching the North American and…
Earlywood Vs. Latewood and Growth Ring Patterns in Yakisugi
Growth Rings in Yakisugi “Shou Sugi Ban” Cypress Siding Growth ring patterns are critical to both yakisugi “shou sugi ban” appearance and, more than most people realize, wood longevity. Anyone considering wood siding is concerned…
What is a Rainscreen and How it is Installed?
Other than higher cost over what we consider snake-oil exterior siding products (cement-board, vinyl, aluminum), the biggest problem with wood siding is the potential for mold growth and rot. Rot, mold, and mildew…
The Feng Shui Of Shou Sugi Ban
Feng Shui is a Chinese term for a tradition followed across Northeast Asia, including China, Korea, and Japan. In Japanese it is pronounced fu-sui, but the Chinese feng shui is generally used in the…
Shou Sugi Ban Fencing And Privacy Screens
The addition of a fence to your space can bring with it a sense of privacy, security and a sense of style. Shou sugi ban fencing makes a great first impression for…
The Meaning of Sugi in Shou Sugi Ban
Chances are if you’ve found this blog, you already know who we are. We’re Nakamoto Forestry, the primary producer of yakisugi “shou sugi ban“. For our first blog post, we thought it…