Before I am a company representative, I am a lumberjack. Trees are living beings, and I believe we must never forget that when we work with them, we are receiving their lives.

I was born in Osaka, moved to Saitama when I entered junior high school, and later studied marine science in high school and university. Unsure if I wanted a career at sea, I chose instead to search for what I truly wanted to do. After graduation, I joined a forestry company in Nagano through a friend’s connection. I had no particular interest in architecture at that time—my roots lie in the experience of working as a lumberjack there.

After about a year, I left the forestry company and traveled through North America, where I encountered a Canadian log-house company. I spent around three years there building log houses. After marriage, I returned to Japan and found a job with a forestry cooperative in Yamanashi—that was the beginning of my connection to this region.

Since my time in Canada, I had admired the work of carpenters. While working again as a lumberjack in Yamanashi, I began teaching myself architectural design. When I went independent, I took on any work available—tree cutting, assisting carpenters on-site, mowing grass, or building wooden decks. The profits from those jobs were reinvested into construction projects, gradually expanding the business and growing our team.

As I worked as a lumberjack, I realized that simply selling logs could not sustain a business. Trees are alive—how could we honor their lives with fair value? That simple wish—to use the wood as it is and create something with it—became the reason I named the company SOBOKUYA (“Simple House”).

This led us closer to Japan’s traditional architecture, which makes use of materials in their natural form. SOBOKUYA is not only a construction company but also a design studio. Our design always begins with the material itself. If you start with drawings, it becomes difficult to use trees with unique shapes and characters. Their qualities are hard to express on paper. Carpenters, who work with wood every day, hold the richest knowledge about its texture, form, and character. By observing and engaging with the wood directly, they carve it by hand.

Designers bring ideas, carpenters discuss them while looking at the drawings together, and through that dialogue, the plans are refined. This ability to integrate the voices of craftsmen directly into the design process is one of SOBOKUYA’s greatest strengths.

To preserve carpentry skills and embody SOBOKUYA’s philosophy, we employ carpenters as full-time staff. In Japan, many carpenters work freelance or day by day, but with us, all are employees. Working continuously on projects together, they inherit SOBOKUYA’s spirit and make it their own.

For me, “keeping things simple” is essential. Japanese architecture is defined by its ma—the beauty of empty space. In contrast, many buildings overseas fill every gap with shelves, decorations, or features. Japanese traditional architecture leaves room, and beauty resides in that space. That is why such buildings remain timeless.

Our team includes many international designers, and we regularly welcome interns from Europe, Asia, and Africa. This confirms that there is consistent interest and demand abroad for wooden architecture. For that reason, we are committed to exploring and expanding the possibilities of Japanese wooden architecture worldwide.

We want to work with people who find joy in creating with their own hands and minds—those with ambition and independence, who may one day start their own business after learning here. We seek people who can leave behind work that no one else can replicate.

I believe an organization should remain fluid, with people coming and going. That is not a bad thing. Interns who join for only a short period, or employees who move on after a few years, all bring freshness. Of course, we are grateful for those who stay long-term, but we never want to stagnate. Meeting new people always brings new learning. That is why diversity is so important to us.

I remind myself of this as well: it’s okay to be free. Craftsmen often fall into rigid patterns of “this is how it should be,” but in truth, there are countless ways to express creativity. Work content, methods, and lifestyles should be flexible. SOBOKUYA aims to be a company that can propose this kind of freedom. The most exciting colleagues are those who embrace change and devote themselves passionately. Those are the people we want to work with.