Using Tenryu Wood

This lumberjack activity lets us experience how thinned wood from Tenryu Forest is processed and utilized in our office. We will see firsthand how logs from the forest are transformed into wooden products—becoming companions in our daily work.

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March 16, 2022
In Kicoro Forest, Tenryu Ward, Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, we carried out collection work using a small timber transporter. The lumberjack team manually transported cedar and cypress logs lying on the forest slope to the forwarder on the work path. Each team collected three logs, for a total of nine logs.

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April 8
At Matsuno Lumber Store, just 2 km from Kicoro Forest, we met with sawmill and furniture workshop craftsmen to discuss processing methods. The logs brought from Kicoro Forest, combined with those collected by the lumberjack team, totaled 48 logs.
The discussion focused on maximizing the use of heavily damaged thinned wood, deciding on board widths, and how to combine the wood’s back and front for the best results.

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June 27
We visited Hikabe Furniture Workshop, located 3 km from the sawmill, to observe the product processing. In this project, 48 wooden panels measuring 600 × 1600 mm were produced. These panels will be used to rearrange the office layout and ensure proper social distancing.

On June 4, cypress panels arrived from Tenryu, and on July 9, cedar panels followed. Delivery and installation work were carried out at the NCM Tokyo office. By installing wooden panels between desks, we created an office layout that adapts to life with COVID-19—while adding a small design feature that literally lets us “face the forest.”

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This concludes the lumberjack activity, but the real challenge—using Tenryu wood in daily life—starts now. Using imperfect thinned wood as a material may be the first lesson in embracing nature’s inconveniences and discovering new values and joys in our relationship with it.

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Thoughts and Beyond
Relay column by NCM employees Participating in the Lumberjack Activities

For me, born and raised in mountainous Nara, the forest was something that naturally existed outside the window. I always felt familiar with it, yet I realized I knew almost nothing about it. The forest does not remain unchanged—it is protected and nurtured by people.

This time, I joined the lumberjack activity, transporting thinned wood from the forest to make wooden panels for our office. Seeing the thinned wood, the process of turning it into products, and the effort and time involved, I understood for the first time that the forest is cared for by people.

The next time I return home, I feel the impression of the forest I see will be completely different from what I’ve seen before.

Asuka Furukawa
Nikken Sekkei Construction Management (NCM)