Historic manuscripts
Digitized Edo-period scrolls detailing joint geometry and temple restoration records.
The Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum holds ~30,500 carpentry tools and related materials. Its collection includes mokuroku (tool catalogs), kiwari books (Japanese stereotomy), woodblock prints, and ceremonial texts. The Terada Family sukiya (tea house) documents have been studied for Edo-era techniques. The museum publishes the Bulletin of Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum, a peer-reviewed journal.
Scrolls use pictorial conventions: exploded views, cross-sections, proportional guidelines in bu. They show how Kanawa Tsugi and Okkake Daisen Tsugi were laid out before modern measuring tools. Temple restoration records (kishōmon) document joint use in specific structures. The Building Research Institute and similar institutions hold digitized copies. Access often requires Japanese literacy, but diagrams transcend language. Contact the Takenaka Museum (Kobe) for research access.