It has been 150 years since the 250 years of peace and tranquility of the Edo period came to an end and Japan began to take the path of a modern nation. At that time, Japan was a typical agricultural country with almost no industry, as the strict class society of samurai, farmers, artisans and merchants continued. Even though it was the trend of the times, the extent of the turmoil in Japan at that time, when the country was opened up by the power of the Western powers that had already experienced the Industrial Revolution, was far beyond imagination.

 In the political and economic spheres, the turmoil continued at a dizzying pace, but on the other hand, the daily lives of many people who were accustomed to a class society must have been changing at a much slower pace.

 However, with the abolition of the feudal domain in 1871 (Meiji 4), the social environment changed drastically. It would not be an exaggeration to say that people were thrown out into the confusion of the world, where the correlation between "protecting" and "being protected" had collapsed. This is the birth pangs of modern Japan.

 What we have here is a living record of the craftsmen of the Meiji era who quickly recovered from this collapse of the sense of social belonging and started walking with their feet on the ground...