The solid walls of a tea-house are normally covered in a natural coloured clay, similar to the colour of dried bamboo canes and the nearest I could find to this was M.D.F. (Medium Density Fibreboard) which, unfortunately, is only recommended for indoor use, but I thought if it was treated with G4 waterproof varnish, it would be resistant to anything our climate could throw at it. After fixing the fibre board to the two back walls and giving them two coats of G4, they have successfully come through the winter without any problem. Time will tell if my weather proofing idea will work successfully long term.

As mentioned earlier the second Japanese characteristic is a 'Shoji', which is a very light wooden sliding door or partition, (this was going to stretch my carpentry skills). They are made of a simple skeleton of thin wooden strips arranged in various rectangular patterns and framed by somewhat wider strips over which paper is usually pasted.

The lower portion of the Shoji is often a wooden panel and as can be seen from the drawing the framework is constructed with mortise and tenon joints and half lap joints which are glued together.

After sharpening my chisels and a little practice, I was ready to start making the 3 shoji's. When I had completed the first, finding a weather proof substitute for translucent paper proved very difficult. In Japan paper called 'Washi' has traditionally been used as it is light and translucent. PVC impregnated Washi is available for external work. The nearest I could find were plain PVC roller blinds in a DIY store which I managed to fix to the shoji using a hot melt gun.

Once I had completed the other two shoji's and fixed them in position, all that was required was a coat of paint in a natural wood and it is now ready to host the first Tea Ceremony.