I had been doing a lot of sankakudai braiding recently, and had an event coming up where I had very little to do except watch tournaments, talk to artisans, and wait for things to happen. So, I decided to experiment with interesting patterns on the shigeuchidai, using some heavy cotton to make 9-strand shigeuchi braids.
6 ends of cotton crochet thread per strand 3 red and 6 white, RWRWR and WWWW
8 ends of cotton crochet thread per strand 3 white and 6 red, RRWRR and WRRW
I had fun just sitting and braiding, plus people walking by would ask questions about the shigeuchidai and kumihimo, so I could tells stories and explain explain the different braids and equipment.
When the call went out before Pennsic for largesse items to be gifted to the East Kingdom, one of the suggestions was “rainbow” color schemes. I did all my braids in purple and gold to match East colors, but the rainbow idea stuck in the back of my mind. I later realized that as possibly the only person in North America to own a traditional Japanese sankaku-dai, I was maybe the only person in the SCA who could create braids in the classic 7-color “Roy G. Biv” (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) rainbow pattern. Seven-strand braids are possible on other braiding stands, but they are fast and smooth on the sankakudai.
Sankaku-dai set up for 7-strand rainbow braid
To work a 7-set braid on the sankakudai, you lift the top strand on left, and move it over the other left-hand threads to become the bottom strand on the right. Then you do the same from right to left. When the point of braiding gets too close to the tip, use the roller to pull it back towards the torii. When the tama get too close to the mirror of the dai, extend them as you would on a marudai. You can add twist to the strands or not, as you please. I have found very little difference in the resulting braid, but that may be because of the material I am using.
Here are the 3 rainbow braids I made in one evening on my sankakudai:
Sankakudai 7-set rainbow braid, 8 ends of crochet cotton per strand (twist applied)
Sankakudai 7-set rainbow braid, 8 ends of crochet cotton per strand (no twist)
Sankakudai 7-set rainbow braid, 10 ends of crochet cotton per strand (no twist)
Adding more ends per strand make a braid that is only a little wider, but much softer. I am really glad I tried this braid, and happy to add it to my repertoire. These braids are cheerful and friendly, and I know that people will enjoy receiving them.
As you know, most braiding in Japan is performed on braiding stands, called “dai”. A braiding researcher in Japan clued me in to the fact that this braid was made traditionally on three different braiding stands, but only one of those pieces of equipment is used today. The two other dai are rarely seen even in Japan these days, and most braiders outside of Japan have never heard of them.
If I lived in Japan, I could probably make an appointment to travel to one of the few braiding studios that still possess them. In the USA, if I wanted to experiment with these stands I was going to have to DIY them based on some of the few photos that exist on the Internet.
The first is a stand that appears to be specialized just for the shigeuchi braid, since it is called the “shigeuchi-dai”. The unbraided strands hang down over the sides of the dai, and are wound around weighted bobbins called “tama”. The strands are passed between other strands and moved from side to side and to create the braid at the center. The completed braid passes over the “torii” at the top of the dai and is wound around the roller at the back. For scale, this stand is about 2 feet tall.
The second stand is used for several different braids, but usually with an odd number of strands. It is called a “sankaku-dai” because of its triangular (san=3, kaku=angle) top. The strands are (again) passed from side to side, but over the top instead of across a gap. This stand is smaller, at about 16 inches tall.
Both stands are made from pine to keep them affordable, and assembled with screws to keep assembly (and disassembly) simple. Learning to braid on these dai has been fun and informative. My researcher friend in Japan tells me they are most likely the only dai of their kind in North America!
Here is a sampling of sankakudai braids in various materials and colors:
Having made the bamboo satchel, I still had one RÖDEBY bamboo thingy from IKEA. I’ve been using a collapsible box tote for the last few years to carry all my regular SCA stuff (papers and whatnot), and it is starting to show its age. I figure these bamboo things will be pretty durable over time, so maybe a more open-top design this time. This is much like the crates I used to make a lot of, but the fabric lining makes it a continuous surface inside. I just had to figure out the right size squares for the end pieces.
Bamboo Tote with Pine Board ends and a Rope Handle
The tote is assembled with glue and copper nails . The rope is attached by inserting it through holes I drilled in the pine board. There is no finish or anything other than what came on the RÖDEBY. Here’s what it looks like when I fill it up with my stuffs:
Bamboo Tote All Filled up with Stuffs
It is a little smaller than the fabric tote it is replacing, but that is OK. I often despair of how much stuffs I carry around all the time, so tighter limits are probably for the best.
This only took me an hour or so to put together, plus the time it took for the glue to fully cure.
I made these back in the fall of 2023, but was not able to finish painting them until Spring, and wasn’t able to try them out until Pennsic (and get photos), so here we are. These are metal hooks meant to hang the lanterns I made a four years ago from the camp walls I made six or so years ago. The problem is that the canvas roofs of the pavilions hang down over the walls for a fair distance. The past couple of years, I have tied twine to the ring at the top of each lantern, then hung the twine from the metal frame of the pavilion. The meant that the lanterns were hanging against the walls, which I found to be less that optimal. The hooks clip onto the tops of the walls, hang down to below the bottom edge of the canvas, and then extend far enough so that the lanterns hang straight.
The basic shape of the lantern hook
Clipped to the wall and hung with a lantern
Pull down the canvas to complete installation
I made these by buying 1/2″x1/8″ welding steel bars from the hardware store, then bending each bar to shape using metal bending jaws in my bench vise. because of the length of the material, I had to bend the bars off center so that they would not hit the beam of the vise. This caused racking in the vise, so I tried to bend two bars at once to balance things out. This bent the beam on my light duty vise so that it is now useless, It’s OK, that was a good excuse to buy a heavy duty vise to replace it.
I also tried using aluminum bar to make it easier to bend, but the aluminum does not stand up to sharp bends as well and sometimes just breaks. I painted the steel bars black to protect them from rusting (I hope).
These stayed up for 2 weeks at Pennsic without incident, and the lanterns didn’t fall off even in the severe rain storms that we had. Success! They joined the lanterns in the 6 lantern storage box that I built 4 years ago.
I made four Japanese-style sawhorses several years ago, but I realized recently that I had no way to transport them except to toss the pieces into the trunk of my car or pile them in a wagon. Then, some friends of mine moved away and gifted me with a pile of lumber they had been using as storage shelving. I spent a few days at the 51st Pennsic War medieval event constructing this 26″x16″x11.25″ crate using only hand tools, as a demo of Japanese style woodworking.
Sawhorse Crate from Pine 1-by-12
I used a ryoba nokogiri saw to do all the cutting of the pieces from the boards, and some of the joinery. I used oire nomi chisels and a mawashibiki saw to cut the remainder of the joinery and the handle cut-outs. A yotsume kiri gimlet came in handy for pilot holes so that the wood didn’t split when I drove in the nails with a genno tsuchi hammer.
Contrary to common belief, Japanese carpenters would not have used fancy joinery without nails to construct such a simple workman’s item. That kind of specialty carpentry was mostly used for devotional items or religious buildings. They probably would have used forged nails instead of wire nails, but I don’t have any of those handy. The big chunky box joints are seen a lot in shipping and storage boxes.
The linen bag holds the wedges and pegs that hold the horses together when assembled. I wrapped the handle cut-outs with some of this great palm rope from Hida Tools. I call it a crate instead of a box because there’s actually an opening in the floor because I just used two pieces of 1-by-12, leaving a 2-inch gap in the middle. This should let the sawdust and shavings out.
The completed box plus sawhorse parts is pretty heavy, so I have to store it on a lower shelf instead of storing the loose pieces on the highest shelf in the garage. I might try to figure out a packing pattern for only one horse’s worth of pieces, then make 2 of those for the other 2 horses.
To commemorate the 35th anniversary of his knighting, I also made a jinmaku camp curtain (“windscreen”) for our friend Sir Maghnus.
It is the standard length (5 yards) and height (72 inches), but instead of the Kaminari colors of black over red, it’s white over blue and the white “chief” is invected like his arms. It took a while to do the scalloping, so I don’t recommend doing it “just because”. It’s a nice touch for a special anniversary, though.
Our good friend, and the head of our household, Sir Maghnus an Chnoic na n’Iora is this year celebrating the 35th anniversary of his knighting at Pennsic. A military leader in medieval Japan with this level of seniority would have a jinbaori “camp coat” to wear over his armor so that he would be more visible and identifiable. I have been “planning” for some time to make one for him eventually, and this anniversary year really kicked my planning into execution.
Jinbaori from the front
The main body of the jinbaori is royal blue felt lined in navy blue linen. The collar lining is some “dragon and phoenix” silk brocade from the stash of Mistress Achren, who passed away some time ago. The “clouds” in chief are white felt. The whole thing is rather large, about 40 inches wide, because it is meant to be worn on top of armor.
Jinbaori front detail
The chest closure and “hold open” loops are some decorative chain, gold chain being one of the symbols of a Knight in the SCA. The buttons are actually extra buttons I purchased as spares for a very early piece of garb of mine. Since I never needed the replacements, they were available for this project.
Jinbaori from the back
Here’s the view from the back, showing more felt embellishment. The “clouds” at the top are of a piece with the front. The “hill of squirrels” motif at the bottom is more felt, this time using black felt pieces on the white to create the vair pattern. This is his heraldic arms, and such display of heraldry is common on jinbaori.
Jinbaori back detail
Attaching all those pieces of black felt was something of a pain, but I was able to sew continuously along the zig-zag edges of the pieces to reduce the labor significantly. While materials like felt don’t seem very Japanese, the “rules” of Japanese clothing seem to go largely out the window with jinbaori. These were intended to be showy and look as expensive and impressive as possible.
The completed project is quite large, heavy, overly warm, and probably somewhat fragile. I doubt it can ever be cleaned, so it probably won’t see very much wear. It should make a great display piece, and will really make him look quite impressive if he ever gets a chance to wear it in court.
I’m actually very happy with the way this came out. I was mostly just winging it when it came to construction, so I’m glad it came together at all.
Every year at Pennsic, the Kingdoms in the SCA trade gift baskets. This year, my Kingdom is gifting the Crown of the East Kingdom with a basket of goodies that they can use during their reign or give out as largesse themselves. I decided to chip in with some of my stock of illustrated scroll blanks and some fresh medallion cord braids in East Kingdom colors.
9-strand Marudai Shigeuchi
9-strand Sankakudai Shigeuchi
9-strand Shigeuchidai Shigeuchi
7-Strand Sankakudai
9-strand Shigeuchidai Shigeuchi
7-Strand Sankakudai
These were all in violet and gold silk lace-weight yarn, with multiple ends of yarn per strand. These braids enabled me to practice some new techniques and on some new equipment, so it was totally worth it.
Due to a confluence of funds and enthusiasm, I came up with the idea of making a new entry gate for the Debatable Lands camp at Pennsic. The camp had a gate, and there wasn’t anything particularly wrong with it, , but given that the Debatable Lands just celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of it’s founding, I felt a shiny new gate was in order. It has actually been more than ten years since I made a camp gate, so I was able to apply what I have learned regarding complexity of design and total project weight, and minimize those vital factors.
Pennsic Camp Gate for the Debatable Lands
The vertical posts are four 8-foot pine 4by4s. They are untrimmed, but they have 3.5-inch slots cut in them to mate with the horizontal members. The horizontal members are 4-foot lengths of pine 2by4, and they have 3.5-inch notches cut at each end to mate with the slots in the vertical posts. The simple joinery increases rigidity and makes sure each horizontal member is in the right place. The lower members are at a good height for use as hand rails or butt rests.
The front top panel is an 8-foot 1by12 that has been crenelated using 5 pieces cut from a 6-foot 1by10. Battens on the reverse secure the crenelations and assure that the panel is aligned properly to the vertical posts. I painted the “Debatable Lands” part myself. The back top panel is an 8-foot 1by10. It is currently not decorated, but that’s plenty of room for an inspirational motto. “Salve Accolens” would be reasonable, but I decided to let others decide what goes there. The two top panels are really the only thing connecting the sides, but they are tall (wide) enough that I’m hoping that will be fine.
The two decorative side panels in the front are 6-foot 1by10s. Owen Tegg painted the lettering, and it is amazing. They say “Fifty Years” in honor of our anniversary, but they can be replaced or repainted easily in the future. It will be a shame to see all that ornate lettering go, though. I wanted to leave a lot of room for creativity from year to year. Since they are just flat panels, anybody can make new ones if they want, and attach them to the gate once it is up.
There is another 4-foot long piece of 2by4 that runs from front to back between the top panels. This provides a little more stability, but its real purpose is to serve as a peak for the awning. The awning is just a long canvas drop cloth from the hardware store. It should provide a little shade from the midday sun and a little shelter from light weather, but I don’t imagine it is waterproof.
All the wood pieces are stained and polyurethaned. A quart of polyurethane was just enough to coat all the pieces and seal the ends. The gate is assembled using regular 3-inch long construction screws.
Given the current price of construction lumber, this whole project (including hardware) cost around $400. I had a lot of help cutting, decorating, and assembling this gate. Thank you Brandubh, Turleough, Aaron, Catalina, Niall, Owen, Forveleth (who would have helped but did not get a chance), and to the officers of the Barony for approving this passion project in the first place. I hope the Barony likes our new gate!
The funding for this and other passion projects was available because a member of our local group passed away suddenly at the age of 33, and his family asked that memorial donations be made in his name to the Barony. Ronan took tremendous pride in the Barony and loved spending time in the Pennsic camp with his friends. He would have loved helping with this project, and I hope having it up at the front of camp would have made him happy.
