Chapter ５- Founding My Own Company

Building Responsibility — Founding My Own Company

As I traveled across Japan and learned from older masters, I began to understand something clearly.

If I truly wanted to protect thatched houses, I could not remain only a craftsman.

I needed responsibility.

Responsibility means more than skill.
It means commitment to continuity.

At the time, many thatchers were working independently, moving from site to site. But I began to feel that without a stable structure — without an organization — young people would never choose this path.

Craft alone was not enough.
We needed a future.

So I founded my own company.

It was not grand.
There was no large office, no funding, no security.

Only tools.
Only experience.
Only determination.

I wanted to create a place where younger craftsmen could work, learn, and believe that thatching could be a lifelong profession.

At first, projects were unstable.
There were months with little income.
There were roofs that took longer than expected.
There were clients who did not understand the cost of tradition.

But slowly, trust began to grow.

People who truly loved their thatched homes began to find us.

Not because we were cheap.
Not because we were fast.
But because we treated each roof as something living.

A thatched roof is not a product.
It breathes.
It ages.
It requires care.

And so do craftsmen.

Through building a company, I was not only repairing roofs.

I was building a place where tradition could survive.