Abstract
There are many traditional technologies that have much knowledge to fabricate products in Japan. Such a knowledge is so-called technical intuitions and sensitivities. The craftsmen apply the technique for regenerating some traditional products and we defined the knowledge as “implicit knowledge.” The concept of this study is to scientifically analyze the implicit knowledge of those technologies. Here, the implicit knowledge would be traced from the contemporary view point. Thus, the knowledge can be applied to the modern technology which is adaptable to the market requirements. Finally the traditional technology retailed with the advanced technology many create a new technology. Kyokabe is one of Japanese clay wall for the traditional architectures. The clay wall consists of clay, sand and straws. Straws obviously play a reinforcement, thus Kyokabe can be treated as a composite material. Straws are immersed in the mixture of clay, sand and water for some period of time. The implicit knowledge which Plasterers (masters of Kyokabe) have acquired is that increase in the straws quantity results in increase in compressive strength and increase in the time improves workability in drawing. In this study, the implicit knowledge is scientifically resolved. The effects of the quantity and the immersion time on the compressive properties and workability of Kyokabe were also investigated.
