Palanquins in the Edo period : Research on the technology, structure, and material on the parts made of wood

Research Project

Project/Area Number	25882025
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Cultural assets study and museology
Research Institution	Akita University of Art
Principal Investigator	OCHIAI Rima 秋田公立美術大学, 美術学部, 助手 (00713710)
Project Period (FY)	2013-08-30 – 2015-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥130,000 (Direct Cost: ¥100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥30,000) Fiscal Year 2013: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Keywords	駕籠 / 乗物 / 江戸時代 / 構造 / 木工 / 木工技術 / 江戸
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This research is about palanquins, which were used as one of the means of transportation in the Edo era. I researched these focusing on the technique, material and structure on the parts made of wood. As a consequence of observation and actual measurement, it came to light that almost all the high-class palanquins were made of Hinoki, the palanquins for common people were made of Hinoki, Kiri, Sugi and bamboo. They used the technique of Hozo-kumi (a kind of Japanese wood-working techniques) for the parts jointed by wood, and used the technique of bending a lot for the parts fabricated by bamboo. High-class palanquins such as Onna-norimono were used thick board in many. On the other hand, the palanquins for common people and the chief priest of Buddhist temple used thin board, an ingenuity where the people in the era tried to make sturdy and lighter palanquins.