The luster and beauty of the metalwork are unparalleled. Woodwork fully possesses the beauty of detail and sturdiness. This was not limited to Thunberg alone.
Praise is the only thing that can be accorded to their products.
This was the impression that he gained after actually walking around the shopping streets of Edo and seeing the handicrafts displayed at shop fronts. Among at foreigners who visited Japan toward the end of the Edo Period was the American naturalist E.S. Morse who entered Japanese homes to study handicrafts in daily life. He felt the quintessence of industrial art techniques in the ceramics and lacquerware. What particularly attracted his attention was wooden furniture. But every item of furniture seen there is not only splendidly rationalized but is assembled with exquisite workmanship that is without parallel.