Wagata Bon - Japanese Traditional Tray Making

- Woodwork for Fun

This is a 2 days course, $395

11-12 April, Sat - Sun, 2026

Irregular time schedule

* Please note that the schedule is different between the 1st and 2nd day.

For anyone who wants to have fun and take "wabi-sabi" piece home!

Technical aspects - carving, Japanese round chisels

Content

Making Japanese traditional style tray, Wagata-bon

Well suited for beginners.

Well suited for people who loves Japanese cultural aspect, lost craft, Wabi-Sabi.

What is Wagata Bon?

Wagata Bon

The tray, called Wagata-bon or Tasuke-bon for its distinct style, is typically made of chestnut wood that was abundant around Wagatani, Ishikawa, Japan. Wagatani village was flooded under a dam in 1965 and the tradition of the tray making became lost. Its rim and bottom are carved out of a single piece of fresh, un-dried wood and there are vertical chisel marks that feature on the tray.

This style of tray appears to have been made by several woodworkers in the village and came in various sizes that depended on what scrap materials were available for use at the time. Very few of the original trays have been found outside the vicinity of Wagatani, so this suggests that they may have been locally bartered for food and daily necessities by the woodworkers.

Shinichi Moriguchi has been in the heart of reviving this once lost tray making. He has been making the tray and teaching Wagata-bon making to pass the tradition to young maker in Japan.

Hiroshi has learnt this skill in 2017 in Japan under Shinichi Moriguchi. Hiroshi is aiming to revive this style of tray making in Australia, to connect with chestnut project in Sassafras Nuts farm, in his Japanese way.

Why using chestnut at Sassafras Nuts?

Chestnut was used for this traditional Wagata-bon making in Japan. Chestnut is a great material for various craft making.

Chestnut trees in the Sassafras Nuts farm are cut down when they come to the end of their nut production life. It is my wish to use this wonderful Chestnut to give it a second life.

Sassafras Nuts Farm

You will gain the following from signing up

Small to middle size tray, all made by yourself by hand.
Hands-on knowledge about round chisel usage.
knowledge about Wagata-bon history and being part of keeping them alive!

Time

2 days, 10 hours in total

Proposed time schedule for each day.

Day 1: 9:30-12:00 | 13:00-16:00

Day 2: 9:00-11:00 | 12:00-14:30

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

*Please note that the different start and finish times between Day1 and Day2.

Schedule

Day 1

AM: Picking the timber, experience of splitting a log using hand tools.

PM: Roughing out the inside by round deep chisels

Day 2

AM: Finishing the inside of the tray by round shallow chisels

PM: Finishing the side of the tray by plane.

Lecturer

Hiroshi Yamaguchi (KOITOYA Design/Make/Teach)

30 years of experience. Learned in Takayama, Japan.

About Hiroshi Yamaguchi

Fee

$395

Class size

Maximum 10

Location

Koitoya Design/Make/Teach (Fyshwick, ACT)

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).

Album from past workshop

Wagata Bon Making workshop album

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 14 days before event

Humanitix fee is nonrefundable.

for more information, please contact Hiroshi

koitoya@gmail.com / 0412340619

About the organiser

Hiroshi Yamaguchi runs KOITOYA, which designs and makes wooden craft and furniture.KOITOYA also runs Japanese Woodworking courses.

www.koitoya.com.au

Contact the host of Wagata-Bon Japanese Traditional Tray Making - Koitoya Woodworking Class 2026