Douglas Brooks

Douglas Brooks is a boatbuilder, writer, researcher, and teacher specializing in the construction of traditional wooden boats for museums and private clients. Since 1990, he has been researching traditional Japanese boatbuilding, documenting the techniques and design secrets of the craft. He has built boats with nine elderly boatbuilders from throughout Japan; he is the sole apprentice for seven of his teachers.

In 2014, Brooks received the Rare Craft Fellowship Award from the American Craft Council in recognition of his work in Japan. His work has also been honored by the Japanese Ministry of Culture. He has built Japanese boats for museums across the United States and Japan.

Brooks has published five books and numerous articles on Japanese boatbuilding. His 2015 book, Japanese Wooden Boatbuilding, is the first comprehensive survey of the craft. He is a 1982 graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut with a B.A. in Philosophy, and a 2002 graduate of the Middlebury College Japanese Language School.