A visit to the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum, which preserves the history of wood harvesting and carpentry from the stone age until about 100 years ago. Nestled on a hillside in an out-of-the-way area of Kobe, Japan, the museum was beautiful in its design and content. The entry floor had space for talks and meetings, while the gallery areas were in two floors below. They also had a very well equipped wood shop with instructors working behind a glass wall, adjacent to a gallery area.

The ability to work with wood was dependent upon the development of tools - first, of stone, and eventually, of finely honed steel. The images of woodcutting tools show, on the blades, the signatures of the people who wrought and sharpened the steel. Several images show the lace-like, fine sheets of wood that were shaved from boards by incredibly sharp steel blades.