A no-nails description leaves much of a wooden object’s construction unspecified. Tokyo’s official Edo sashimono reference separates board joints from joints between frame members, while also noting that metal fittings are kept to a minimum. Those statements do not mean exactly the same thing.
Technique and structure
For boards, the reference lists methods including hagi-tsugi and hashibame joints. For frames or bars, it lists lap, mortise-and-tenon and mitre joints. The useful distinction is between the kind of member being joined and the way its meeting surfaces are worked. A box’s broad panels and its frame members need not be described by one generic joint name. The reference defines sashimono through worked wooden connections rather than nail-fastened assembly; its separate mention of minimal metal fittings should not be converted into a claim that every component of every object is metal-free.
Construction is separate from the finish
Tokyo’s traditional-material description names woods including mulberry, zelkova, paulownia and cedar, as well as materials with equivalent qualities. The finish list separately includes wiped urushi and other lacquer methods; decorative work may include maki-e or raden. A joint name therefore supplies neither a complete wood specification nor the finish of a particular commissioned piece.
This is a vocabulary guide to the official craft description, not a drawing from which to cut a joint. No dimensions or load rating are supplied here.
For international readers
Ask which joints serve the boards and which serve the frame, then ask about wood and finish. Keep the maker’s actual specification alongside any broad no-nails description.
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日本語
江戸指物：板と框の接合、そして「釘なし」の範囲
東京都の江戸指物の説明では、板の接合と框・棒材の接合に別々の技法を挙げています。框には相欠き・ほぞ・留め、板には矧ぎや端嵌めなどがあります。木の接合を釘で留めない説明を、すべての金具が存在しない意味に広げず、木地の組み方と塗り・加飾も分けて読みます。