Building Bamboo Fences Paperback – October 5, 2001

136 pages, not including the glossary. The first 16 pages are a history of Japanese fencing, and the terms used for each type of fence. The next 32 pages are color photos of the various fences in real world scenarios. Some are incredibly impressive! Then 6 pages of knots, terms, and the basics of working with bamboo. Then 11 types of fence, with diagrams. Naturally, the Japanese language includes about a bazillion variations of bamboo fence, and the terms used to describe them. We'll get to that in a moment. Each section is laid out with the first page showing a drawing of the fence type, a brief description, and then 4-10 pages of building diagrams, which sometimes include b&w photos. Some are simple, and some are VERY intricate. They're almost all beautiful. The fact that it includes so many diagrams is a nice touch for us Westerners, and the one thing that makes the book useful to the guy or gal who wants to actually BUILD a fence, instead of learning about them. However... When reading through the diagrams, the author (who is Japanese) constantly uses the Japanese name of the various parts of the fence, which sometimes frustrates me, since I have to go back to the front of the book and look it up. Yes, there's a diagram, but I still like to know exactly what's going on, to eliminate any errors. It's certainly not the authors fault that he uses correct terminology- it's my fault for being American enough to find it annoying to have to constantly backtrack- not only to the preliminary pages describing the terms, but to the 6 pages of knot descriptions. Some of the knots are crazy, and even with repetition, I sometimes ask myself if I'm doing them right. It's probably something that most people won't mind, but I get impatient with projects, and want them done. Weird for a guy building Japanese bamboo fences, huh? Anyway, it's a VERY thorough book, and certainly worthy of your consideration if you have any interest in constructing one of the 11 beautiful types of fences here. Bear in mind, too, that the author says that the lifespan of bamboo is around 5 years. That may deter someone from undertaking the task of constructing one, but it's actually pretty fun, and the beauty of the process, not to mention the finished fence, has been known to have a calming effect. Even on an impatient American.

This book is a wonderful and unique resource. Bamboo has invaded many suburban gardens and this book shows a way to put the pesky bamboo to use in a beautiful and inexpensive way. Many different Japanese bamboo fence styles were shown in colorful photographs, providing visual detail that is hard to convey in words or with diagrams, and also showed the fences in various settings to provide ideas of where you might want to build a Japanese style bamboo fence. In addition, detailed instructions and diagrams for building several different styles of traditional fences were a valuable guide. I used this book together with The Craft and Art of Bamboo, revised and updated, 30 eco friendly projects and was able to get a good understanding of basic techniques. I built a trellis, while far from perfect, it is a start.

Pictures are great.

Lot’s of good and informative directions. Great diagrams and illustrations. Now to find a source for the bamboo lumber!!

If you want to understand how traditional Japanese bamboo fences are made this book is the best place to start (actually this is the only book I know of that covers the traditional techniques). I recommend buying this book and also "The Craft and Art of Bamboo" by Carol Stangler to get some ideas on how techniques more familiar to westerners can be used or combined with traditional approaches to build bamboo fences.

An excellent book...just what I was looking for...and in the good shape as promised. Shipping was also very prompt.

This is a Great book for bamboo lovers. Especially if you have access to the waste branches .I can't wait to do more with those! The more ideas here you try....the more the fever grips you.....Possiblities endless!Lots of pictures with great informative diagrams, inspiratinal ideas and plans as well as info on how to harvest and preserve poles. I like to fire harden....but watch out for explosions!One of the 2 best bamboo books I have seen. The other one is in Spanish

It's practical and informative with fabulous, inspiring photos. I didn't get this in order to dream of bamboo fencing; I bought the book so I could make a bamboo fence. With this book, I can. It told me how to prepare the bamboo, as well as giving many choices and styles for fencing.

Parfait, bien emballé, bien arrivé.Merci

以前日本語版を見て感心し探したのですが売り切れでこの英語版を購入しました。英語なんて解読できるだろうかと不安だったのですが、難しい単語は日本語→ローマ字表記になってるだけだったので何となく意味は把握できました。しかし日本語版からおおよそ半分の竹垣の作り方が削られていて、個人的に残念だったので☆マイナス一つです。その分お値段も半分なんですけどね。