Since Gwyn's article on constructing a Japanese Tea House was included in this Website there have been several questions via e-mail, and some of them are included below.
This article was written many years ago and we are not now able to answer any questions on this teahouse.

Q. I really enjoyed your tea house pages on the website. Sadly, I have no room for a teahouse but I have seen what you describe as a 'shoji' used in place of a curtain/blind in a room to create that lovely diffused light effect.
So my question is, if you can help, what is such an arrangement known as and do the Japanese do it? I don't think that 'Japanese blind' would be correct. I would like to have some made for my flat but I am having difficulty descrbing what I am after.

A. The correct name in Japanese is shoji. The delicate sliding doors that you see in Japanese rooms are known as shoji sliding doors and are made of soft translucent paper and delicate wood latticework. In Japan, and possibly in the US you can buy the rolls of shoji paper, and at regular intervals you can remove the old paper and then glue on the new clean paper. I do not know anywhere you can purchase it in the UK.
Full details of all this including how to build the doors or sliding windows can be found in a book "A Japanese Touch for your Home". It is printed in Japan by Kodanshaa International Ltd, but available in the UK & the US. The ISBN is 0-87011-526-X
As you say they are excellent when used in front of windows as they give a very diffused light.
In ancient Japan they used to be used externally instead of glass, but in modern buildings they now have the normal glass windows like us and then have the sliding shoji windows internally very similar to secondary double glazing.

Q. Neat stuff. Looks great. I'm interested in building a similar structure in our garden here in Portland, Oregon, and am wondering how the sliding materials seems to do with the rain. I'd appreciate suggestions. Thank you - Keith.

A. It is nearly two years old and to date, there are no problems with any of the materials used, but I expect to replace the M.D.F (Medium Density Fibreboard) first, as it is not designed for outdoor use. The roof keeps most of the weather (especially the rain) off the other materials and they have stood up to some very strong winds recently - Gwyn.

Q. Hi Gwyn, I've just been looking at the tea house you built and it's perfect! Actually it's kind of what I've been thinking about doing in my Japanese garden, but unfortunately, I've never been to Japan, or have never really seen one up close. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but is your tea house actually 5 sided or 6 sided, it also would appear to be about 7' high and I assume probably about 7' to 8' at the base. I would sure appreciate any more info you could give me before I try and tackle this. Like I said before, I think it's just exactly what I've been looking for. I live in Canada on Vancouver Island just about 30 minutes north of Victoria BC. - Ken.

A. The dimension of the base is 6'5" x 6'5", but the tea house only has five sides, (our tea-house is only designed to be viewed from two sides as it is situated in the corner of the garden). The two sides you cannot see in the first photo on our Section's web page are the full length (6'5"). The dimensions of the three forwarding facing sides (Shoji's) are two @ 2'9" and the centre 3'9". The height of the front is 6'5" and the rear approximately 8'0" giving the roof an approximate angle of 15 degrees - Gwyn.

Q. Hi Gwyn Thanks very much for the info. on your tea house, and having a look at my website. (Took me damn near as long to build the website as it did the Japanese garden, well not really.) I'm thrilled that the overall dimensions are as small as they are, because I have picked a perfect site for it (although it may have to be viewed from 3 sides.) That may pose a bit of a problem, but not impossible! I also have another possible area I could use which is in a corner at the top corner of my garden, but I would kind of like to be a bit closer to the ponds! One question I still have though is; "How did you get that front shoji (which is wider @ 3' 9") to slide around a bit of a corner" did you use some sort of "tracking" or rails? Are "chashitsu's" basically for decoration, or should they be located for viewing "Koi" from? I'm really hoping we have an early spring this year, so I can get started on my tea house. (mind you, "El Nino" has been real good to us so far.) Anyway thank you for all your help and I'll have to do some deep thinking about which location will look the best - Ken.

A. Hi, Ken & Lisa I'm glad our info appears to be of benefit to you and, as expected, there are still a lot of questions unanswered, so I'll try to answer your latest e-mail and give some further hints. The centre shoji is mounted on two overhead tracks designed for use with sliding doors, one is mounted above the right hand fixed shoji, while the other is above the centre shoji. The top rail of the centre shoji is fitted with two roller units, one running in each of the overhead tracks. The position of the roller units on the top rail is important, as this dictates both the closed and open positions, it is also essential that the design of the roller units allows for the change of angle as the shoji opens and closes, (ie. it should swivel). As for the siting and use of a 'Chasitsu', I have picked out some info from one of my books to give you a better understanding. The size of the tea house is always quoted in Tatami mats (approx 6'0" x 3'0"), with the minimum being two tatami mats, and is somewhere where you should feel as though you are in a completely different world. The tea houses do not have large sliding shojis but have a small entrance (28"x24") which is entered by crawling through (this ensures that even distinguished guests discard their status upon entering). The tea ceremony itself is an extremely complex affair taking many years to fully master and is only practiced by a very few Japanese. As you can see, I've adapted the tea house to suit our garden and lifestyle, but keeping the appearance Japanese. You may find the book I quoted useful and it is available in North America. The title is "A Japenese Touch for your Home" by Koji Yagi (ISBN 4-7700-1662-x) (LCC 82-80646) and is distributed through:- Kodansha America Inc. 114 Fifth Avenue, New York. NY10011 - Gwyn.

Eric & Gwyn,

This is Steve here! I'm sure you've forgotten about me and my little project. Remember Last July(2001), I stated how impressed we were about Gwyn's teahouse? Well I really felt obligated in showing you what configuration we settled on. Note, we did a variation on Gwyn's concept. Our climate would not support Gwyn's authentic (and "open") masterpiece. Hope you approve of our poor forgery! I was really shocked to find how expensive building supplies can be. We will be finishing off the interior this spring. We installed a door instead of shoji screens. The windows (I think) give the illusion of shojis. Used your schematic for shojis and replaced the rice paper with clear 1/4" plexiglass. Embellished the exterior paneling with bamboo, using authentic Japanese design. The roof is another variation using your sensible suggestion of cedar shingles. Let us know what you think!!! By the way, we reside in Downers Grove, Illinois in the USA. We are very use to 30 below zero and winds of up to 60 miles an hour. Don't worry, we are now experiencing a very mild winter. I assure you a hurricane would not blow this structure down. " not by by the hair of my chinny chin chin".

Best regards,
Steve and Dan (your lifetime fans)