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…
sugi
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…