...becoming a 'M'aster
"..., working on the site as a carpenter is the best possible classroom. Words and textbooks are not enough to produce a full-fledged carpenter. It requires the invaluable experience of working on a 'good site'. In the old days there were stories of people who, in disguise, would apprentice themselves to master carpenters in order to steal their techniques, learning what they wanted little by little on the worksite. Even for a good carpenter, it seems, this type of thing wasn't regarded unusual in order to become a master of the craft. " Extracted from Nishioka, T., Kohara, J. and Brase, M. (2016) The building of horyu-ji: The technique and wood that made it possible . Tokyo: Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture.