{"id":124731,"date":"2019-05-23T10:58:37","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T14:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=124731"},"modified":"2024-07-01T15:56:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T19:56:47","slug":"boats-made-at-bates-all-the-way-from-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2019\/05\/23\/boats-made-at-bates-all-the-way-from-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Boats made at Bates, all the way from Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cRace on!\u201d someone yelled from the shore. But that was a lot to ask of 14 students making their maiden voyage on the Puddle in long, narrow flat-bottomed boats.<\/p>\n<p>Eight in one boat and six in the other, the students used paddles and poles to meander around the pond for a few minutes before heading back to shore. It was late afternoon on May 22.<\/p>\n<p>About 100 people looked on, as did wary blackbirds perched on the reeds. A skilled canoeist steered curlicues around the student boats to give his video-shooting passenger the good angles. But no pressure, kids!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"color: #009779;\"><em>\u00a0A video clip of the boat launch by Theophil Syslo\/Bates College<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Japanese Boat Launching\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q1iu9udz4HY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Now, if someone had yelled, \u201cChiseling on!\u201d or \u201cPlaning on!\u201d those same students would have been all over it \u2014 for they had built the wooden Japanese-style boats during the previous five weeks of Short Term.<\/p>\n<p>And they had just launched them in a ceremony that culminated \u201cApprentice Learning: Building the Japanese Boat,\u201d one of the practitioner-taught courses arranged by the Center for Purposeful Work.<\/p>\n<p>A boat builder and writer from Vergennes, Vt., Douglas Brooks taught the course and presided over the highly ritualized boat launch. The Buddhist and Shinto spiritual traditions co-exist in Japan, Brooks told his audience. But Shinto, whose rituals honor the spirit <em>kami<\/em> that reside in all creation, rules all things boaty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConducting the rituals brings us closer to nature and closer to something divine,\u201d Brooks explained. \u201cAnd that\u2019s it. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m doing a purification ritual over the students, who badly need that,\u201d Brooks kidded, \u201cand over the boats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A shrine had been set up on a table between the boats. It contained offerings to the <em>kami<\/em> in the form of fruit, green tea, and sake, and there was a stick to which streamers of accordion-folded paper were attached. To begin the launch ceremony, Brooks shook the streamers over the boats and students, placed a handful of rhododendron leaves on the shrine, clapped twice, and offered a silent prayer.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_124752\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0177.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-124752\" class=\"wp-image-124752 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0177-900x600.jpg\" alt=\"Douglas Brooks shakes the streamers over the boats. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0177-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0177-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0177-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0177.jpg 1919w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-124752\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Douglas Brooks shakes the streamers over the boats. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>One by one, the 14 students from Brooks\u2019 course continued the purifying ritual, anointing the boats with salt and sake, and striking a few sparks over them, which protects travelers when they leave home.<\/p>\n<p>Then each followed Brooks\u2019 example with the rhododendron leaves (offered in place of a Japanese plant unavailable here), claps, and prayers. A few onlookers took part, too. (One observer was Ralph Sylvester \u201950, a frequent visitor to the boat-building sessions.)<\/p>\n<p>Next came an <em>a cappella<\/em> song that amped up the mood. It was a traditional Japanese song led by En Sawyer Lee, who had met Brooks when both were studying folkways on the same institute on an island in Japan. It was a big rousing song in a sea chantey vein and a smiling Lee got the crowd to join him in a staccato call-and-response of the word \u201cYoisa!\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_124753\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0255.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-124753\" class=\"wp-image-124753 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0255-900x600.jpg\" alt=\"En Sawyer Lee leads the &quot;Yoisa&quot; chant. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0255-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0255-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0255-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0255.jpg 1919w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-124753\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">En Sawyer Lee leads the &#8220;Yoisa&#8221; chant. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>And then, to applause from the viewers, the students carried their boats to the shores of Lake Andrews, slipped them in, and set out across the water. A safe distance across the pond, students in two inflatable vessels looked on. Yoisa!<\/p>\n<p>Varsity rower Grace Murnaghan &#8217;20 of Lexington, Mass., was on her feet poling the six-person boat. The boat handled &#8220;surprisingly well,&#8221; she said later. \u201cIt didn\u2019t exactly turn on a dime, but we were able to get the hang of maneuvering it pretty quickly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom what I heard from Mr. Brooks, it sounds like Japanese farmers and fishermen who owned these boats could use the pole to travel with speed in a perfectly straight line, a feat we certainly didn\u2019t conquer in our short trip around the Puddle!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Japanese tradition informed the boat-building course from the start. Held in a back room off the Chase Hall loading dock, course sessions were mostly silent, with just brief instructions and demonstrations to begin each gathering. The idea was to elevate observation and mindfulness as ways of learning.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_124755\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0417.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-124755\" class=\"wp-image-124755 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0417-900x600.jpg\" alt=\"Students carry one of the boats to the water. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0417-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0417-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0417-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0417.jpg 1919w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-124755\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students carry one of the boats to the water. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s kind of cool, because you\u2019re focused on what you\u2019re doing and it\u2019s repetitive motion,\u201d Nathaniel Badger \u201922 of Edwards, Colo., explained during an open house for the course a week prior to the launch. \u201cYou kind of get into this trance where you\u2019re meditating through your work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Each of the students learned each of the woodworking techniques that Brooks taught, and learned to flow from task to task according to need, whether the need pertained to the process or to a particular set of aching muscles.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_124754\" style=\"width: 1929px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0379.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-124754\" class=\"wp-image-124754 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0379.jpg\" alt=\"Students turn their boat in front of the crowd gathered on the shore of Lake Andrews. (Phylis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)\" width=\"1919\" height=\"1279\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0379.jpg 1919w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0379-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0379-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/05\/190522_Japanese_Boat_Launch_0379-200x133.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-124754\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Bates rower, Grace Murnaghan &#8217;20 handles the pole as her boat executes a turn before the eyes of the crowd on the Lake Andrews shore. Alex Platt &#8217;22 is paddling. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cOne of the first things we were told was, even if you\u2019ve built a boat before, when you walk into the class, assume you know nothing,\u201d Badger said. \u201cYou need that fresh start, because if your ego is in the way, you\u2019re not going to get out of the class what you want to get.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since 1996, Brooks has apprenticed with Japanese boat builders and written several books on the practice. Just prior to the launch, he described his Bates experience as \u201cfantastic,\u201d drawing the syllables out for emphasis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the organization of this course, working with the Center for Purposeful Work, to the collegiality of faculty who contacted me with an interest in my course, to the students, who really were wonderful and worked very hard,\u201d he said, \u201cit\u2019s been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Salt, sake, and sparks anoint the vessels made by students in the Short Term course \u201cApprentice Learning: Building the Japanese Boat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":124906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"Salt, sake, and sparks anoint the vessels made by students in the Bates College course \u201cApprentice Learning: Building the Japanese Boat.\u201d","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,6,224,11009],"tags":[12356,4598,10403,10845],"class_list":["post-124731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-maine-world","category-society-culture","category-the-college","tag-center-for-purposeful-work","tag-japan","tag-practitioner-taught-courses","tag-short-term"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124731"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124907,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124731\/revisions\/124907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}