''Yakisugi'' ( 焼杉) is a traditional Japanese method of wood preservation. ''Yaki'' means to heat with fire, and ''sugi'' is

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...

. It is referred to in the West as burnt timber cladding and also available as shou sugi ban® or 焼杉板 which uses the same ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

'' characters but an incorrect pronunciation. The ''ban'' character means " plank". By slightly charring the surface of the wood without combusting the whole piece, the wood becomes water-proof through the carbonisation and is thus more durable. It also protects against insects, as well as making the wood fire retardant.

Examples

Contemporary architect

Terunobu Fujimori is a Japanese architect and architectural historian. During the 1970s and 1980s he made studies of the city about early Western buildings and unusual occurrences, and did not turn to architecture until he was in his forties. His work is consid ...

works with ''yakisugi''."Interiors: A Japanese charred-timber house inspired by a cave dwelling"
Yuki Sumner, ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', 28 August 2009

References

External links

* Housing in Japan Woodworking {{japan-culture-stub