Edo Craftsmen

From 1600, Edo (now Tokyo) grew in wealth through three centuries of peace, and master artisans called "shokunin" - woodcarvers, weavers, metalsmiths, printers and kimono makers - were both the builders of Edo and the makers of its treasures. Rapid modernization in the late 19th century, however, sounded the death knell of the shokunin class, with many craftsmen becoming factory labourers, the great guilds that once guarded craft standards are now mostly gone, and few young people will tolerate the decade of apprenticeship typically required to master a skill that holds little prospect of commercial success.;Still in the back streets of old Shitamachi (literally "downtown") section of modern Tokyo are shops and studios where shokunin traditions are carried on, where crafts are still laboriously fashioned in the old manner, with the finest materials and with skills derived from the experience of generations. This book features 12 master artisans who carry on these craft traditions that have survived a century of radical change. The skills, experience and opinions of these artisans provide insights into the shokunin tradition, its precarious position in modern Japan and its future.