Shokunin (職人): a person whose trade is making or working things with their own skill. Figuratively, a person of sure technique, an expert in the field. Takumi (匠): a craftsman who makes things with the hands and with tools. Kodawaru (こだわる): to be caught up in something. A dictionary column notes that it once meant worrying about things that did not matter, and suggests that it has taken on a new, positive sense of refusing to compromise.
The Five-Storied Pagoda
In Kōda Rohan’s novel Gojū no tō (The Five-Storied Pagoda), published in 1892, the carpenter Jūbei is skilled but clumsy. He is known as Nossori, the sluggish one. He takes the commission for a temple’s pagoda from a senior master carpenter and builds it himself.
When a great storm strikes Edo, the pagoda stands without moving at all.
Nameless Craftsmen
The Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Komaba, Tokyo, was founded by Yanagi Sōetsu, who also wrote a prospectus for a museum of folk crafts. The museum describes mingei, folk crafts, as everyday objects made by nameless craftsmen.
Eight Years at Akiyama Mokkō
At the furniture maker Akiyama Mokkō, training takes eight years: one year as a trainee, four years as a decchi, an apprentice, and three years as a craftsman. Apprentices of both sexes shave their heads. During the apprentice years, they may not use a mobile phone for private matters and may not date.
Training rests on the Shokunin kokoroe sanjū kajō, thirty rules for craftsmen, which apprentices recite.
Traditional Craftsman
In 1974, Japan passed the Act on the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries. Under it, a craftsperson can be certified as a dentō kōgeishi, a traditional craftsman. To take the examination, a candidate must have at least twelve years of practical experience in the producing region and still be working in the craft.
Falsified Data
On October 8, 2017, Kobe Steel announced at a press conference that inspection data for aluminum and copper products had been falsified. Commentators wrote that trust in Japanese manufacturing had been shaken.
On March 4, 2022, Hino Motors disclosed improper engine certification for trucks and buses. A special investigation committee concluded that the cause lay in a company culture in which people could not speak up to those above them.
The Plane Shaving
The temple carpenter Ogawa Mitsuo trained under the master carpenter Nishioka Tsunekazu. The one order he received was: Kore to onaji kannakuzu ga dekiru yō ni ha o toge. Sharpen the blade until it makes a shaving like this one. Outside working hours, Ogawa stuck the single shaving he had been handed on a window and kept sharpening.
Looking back, he found that he had been taught almost nothing concrete. “Master Nishioka never once taught me step by step. But we were always together.”
Contemporary Master Craftsmen
In 1967, the Japanese government created an award for outstanding skilled workers, commonly called gendai no meikō, contemporary master craftsmen. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare describes it as honoring workers who have outstanding skill and are regarded as the leading figures in their field. In 2019, it chose 150 recipients.
Hokusai at Seventy-Five
In 1834, at the age of 75, Katsushika Hokusai published Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji). In its postscript, he wrote that at 73 he had begun to grasp the structure of birds, beasts, insects and fish, and how plants grow.
He went on: “So at 80 I will progress further, at 90 I will master their deeper meaning, at 100 I will perhaps be truly marvelous, and at 110 every dot and every line will seem alive.”
Living National Treasures
The Japanese state designates important intangible cultural properties and certifies the individuals who hold them. These holders are commonly called ningen kokuhō, Living National Treasures. The state pays each of them a special grant of two million yen a year.