Arigumi Box - Japanese traditional Dovetail Joint

This is a 3-day course-$780

3-5 October 2026

Content

Making a box with Japanese traditional joinery, Arigumi, Ari Joint.

Excellent educational program to learn about handmade joinery, by using pre-cut teaching kit.

A Chigiri (Butterfly joint) will be used in the timber that forms the lid of the box.

Well suited for intermediate to advanced woodworker.

Well suited for beginner who want to start learning about detailed joinery work.

Highly detailed instruction and demonstration.

Ari-Gumi

Ari-Gumi is the name of traditional joint, using 1 way angled cut. "Ari" means ant in English and refers to ant jaws in this context. In English, they are called Dovetail joint.

It is a difficult joint, but this program will focus on the basics of the joinery skills, like marking skill, chisel skill, jigs. And how you can apply these basic joinery skills into this Ari Gumi. In the end, it is about learning and upgrading basic skills.

Material you get will be partially pre-cut to start from easy step and step by step, develop into more difficult elements of the work, as you proceed.

You will gain the following from signing up

1. Exploration of joinery techniques used in building a box
2. Hands-on knowledge about Japanese tools (chisels and saws)
3. Detailed knowledge about Japanese joinery.
4. Inspiration and confidence for your next project

Date (1 Occurrence)

5-6 October 2026

Time

3 days, 20 hours in total

Day 1&2- 9:00-12:00 | 13:00-17:00

Day 3- 9:00-12:00 | 13:00-16:00

* Please be flexible for your schedule after the class. Sometimes your project requires extra time to finish.

Schedule

Day 1
AM: Overview of Project, Foundations of dovetail Joint
PM: Commence work on dovetail joint
Day 2
AM: Complete work on dovetail joints,
PM: Cut butterfly joint
Day 3
AM: Complete work on lid, Finish Box
PM: Sand, Finish

Lecturer

Clare Solomon (KOITOYA Design/Make/Teach)

Koitoya full time furniture maker.

Graduated from ANU School of Art, Furniture. Clare has been an active artist exhibiting their own work.

Clare has been working full-time with Hiroshi since 2016.

Clare has returned from Japan trip in 2023, where they stayed at Japanese woodworkers for further training.

Fee

$780.00

Class size

Maximum 10

Location

Koitoya Design/Make/Teach (Fyshwick, ACT)

New address

4/18 Maryborough Street, Fyshwick ACT 2609

Parking

Please park your car in the public parking area along Maryborough Street (Free), opposite from J Racing.

We have two parking spots officially. Please contact me for the spot if you need to walk less for your health condition.

Way to the workshop

18 Maryborough Street is a battle-axe block, located inside of the block, so you will be walking through the driveway that leads to the block from Maryborough Street.

The driveway has 2 accesses, one next to Aqua Safe Water Filters, and one next to J Racing.

Unit 4 is a blue painted building on the right-hand side of the block (SE end).

Things to bring

Please wear working shoes.

Bring your own water bottle and lunch.

Things to be supplied

Tea and coffee, snacks, filtered water

Refund Policy

Personal cancelation

Refunds up to 30 days before event

Humanitix fee, admin is nonrefundable ($100).

for more information, please contact Hiroshi

koitoya@gmail.com / 0412340619

Contact the host of Arigumi Box - Fine skill development - Koitoya Woodworking Class 2026