In-Person Classes

CUT YOUR OWN KANNA DAI – JAY VAN ARSDALE & JASON FORSTER – AUGUST 1 & 2, 2026

Dai Making Class
With Jay van Arsdale & Jason Forster

August 1-2, 2026 – 2 Days, Saturday & Sunday
9am – 4pm PT
Where: Jay’s shop, Oakland, CA. (Address will be sent to you after registering.)
Limited to 8 students (In-Person)

$350 non-members
$300 members (use the discount code in the latest newsletter at checkout)

Please note that we have been considering releasing these classes at a future date via streaming and/or download. By signing up for class, you are agreeing to be recorded and included in these future recordings.

Cut Your Own Kanna Dai

Join Jay van Arsdale and Jason Forster for a two-day workshop on cutting your own kanna dai. We will be working in Jay’s shop in Oakland, California.

Covered topics will include: layout, cutout, fitting the blade(s), and shaping the dai for use. This will be a hands-on workshop in which you will go through these steps alongside the instructors. You will be expected to bring your own kanna blade and chip breaker (or just a single kanna blade), a dai blank (if you want to use Japanese white oak), a hammer, and at least one nomi (chisel, recommended size is 24mm) for cutting out the dai. If you’d like to use this workshop opportunity to practice on a piece that is not as precious as Japanese white oak, we can provide a dai blank from a domestic species.

If necessary, blades, hammers, nomi, and Japanese white oak dai blanks can be purchased locally from Suzuki-Ya Tools (suzukitool.com), or Hida Tools (hidatool.com).

Participants are responsible for providing their own lunch.

EXTENDED KANNA CLASS – BRIAN HOLCOMBE – August 29-30, 2026

Extended Kanna Class
With Brian Holcombe

August 29-30, 2026 – Saturday & Sunday
10am – 5:30pm ET
Princeton, NJ
Limited to 5 students (In-Person)

$850 non-members
$800 members (use the discount code in the latest newsletter at checkout)

Please note that we have been considering releasing these classes at a future date via streaming and/or download. By signing up for class, you are agreeing to be recorded and included in these future recordings.

Extended Kanna Class

Learn to sharpen, prepare and use the Japanese hand plane. This class will teach proper setup and use of Japanese hand planes, explaining how to prepare and sharpen the blade, dai body and sub blade. Users are encouraged to bring a new plane. Classes require a 6 hour block of working time and 1.5hrs for lunch. Bring your own lunch.

Class starts at 10am and runs until 5:30pm.

This class is extended beyond the timeframe of the standard Kanna prep class to allow students greater sharpening time and to cover the material in greater detail.

The instructor provides many tools for the students to use but it is recommended to bring a quality straight edge and 400 grit sharpening stone.

MACHIAI CONSTRUCTION – KARL BAREIS – July 18 & 25, 2026

Machiai Construction
With Karl Bareis

July 18 & 25, 2026 – Saturday (2 Days)
9:30am – 3:30pm PT
HAKONE ESTATE & GARDENS,  Saratoga, California
Limited to 6 students (In-Person)
$450

This class is sponsored by Hakone Foundation and Kezuroukai USA.

Please note that we have been considering releasing these classes at a future date via streaming and/or download. By signing up for class, you are agreeing to be recorded and included in these future recordings.

Focus of Class

Reconstruction and installation of a pre-fabricated sukiya-style(数奇屋) machiai waiting pavilion. This term refers to the carpentry style developed in the late sixteenth century using small-scale peeled cedar logs as the framing members of detached buildings with a roji (tea-garden). The Hakone Roji was constructed in 2016 with the help of seven volunteers from Japan. That garden has been waiting for its traditional machiai for the past decade. Materials were sorted out with the help of Bay Area craftsmen, and the major posts were harvested in 2024. The basic round-on-round structure will be raised during the session — bench, walls, and roof frame attached. For those attending, the techniques of harvesting and processing native trees will be described as well.

The typical Japanese building team would include experts in mud plaster walls. Some of this process will be covered in subsequent classes offered in the Fall to Winter months.