Archiving and transferring of traditional artisanship focused on interaction between artisan and tools

Methods for the archiving and transferring of traditional artisanship are needed, now that most of these skills are on the verge of extinction because of aging skilled craftspeople and few successors. With the aim of developing a novel digital archiving and skill-transferring system, we carried out an analysis and visualization of skills on a traditional Japanese decorative art, Kirikane, focusing on the interaction between an artisan and his tools. Our analysis revealed the difference between experts and non-experts on the basis of the information obtained from high-definition cameras and multiple sensors attached to the artisan´s body and the tools. Furthermore, the developed visualization software proved to be effective in bringing new insights to both experts and learners. The findings of this research suggest the utility of our approach for archiving and skill transfer.