Hida Craftsman - Hida no Takumi

Japanese: 飛驒工 - ひだのたくみ

From the Nara period to the early Heian period, farmers from Hida Province traveled to the capital in groups of ten from each village for a year in shifts to work as laborers. They were assigned to the Woodwork Bureau and other government offices related to construction and were called Hida-ko. However, as they were peasant laborers, they were not highly skilled artisans and were probably in charge of simple work such as rough cutting of lumber. There is no record to show that they held leading positions in the construction organizations of the time. However, in the late Heian period, when this labor system was no longer implemented, stories appear in the Konjaku Monogatarishu and Shin Sarugaku-ki that treat Hida-ko as master craftsmen.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

奈良時代から平安時代前期にかけて，飛驒国の農民が労役として，里（り）ごとに10人ずつ1年交替で都に上り働いた。彼らは木工寮その他の建築関係の官庁に配属され，飛驒工と呼ばれたが，農民の労働である点からみて，高度の専門技術を持つ工匠でなく，材木の荒削りのような単純な工作を担当したと考えられる。彼らが当時の建築工事組織で指導的地位を占めたことを示す記録も存在しない。しかし，この労役制度が実施されなくなった平安後期になると，《今昔物語集》や《新猿楽記》のなかに飛驒工を名工として扱った説話が現れる。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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