North House Folk School

Yoshitsune Yamamoto is a Japanese craftsman based in Taka-gun, Hyogo Prefecture. He specializes in the manufacture of wooden plane bodies known as kanna-dai. He began his training learning a traditional Japanese woodworking technique of sashimono at a vocational school in Kyoto. He then spent 10 years as woodworking instructor in Hyogo Prefecture where he developed close ties with tool makers in Miki City who specialize in planes, chisels and saws. He has spent nearly a decade crafting a wide variety of plane bodies ranging from standard flat planes to specialized types of planes. He has been actively involved in a project researching the current state of Japanese tool craftsmen. In 2020, he participated in a project at the Gifu Prefectural Forest Culture Academy and presented research on the modern use of Nankin kanna (spokeshaves). In 2023, he spoke at a meeting in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture, focused on the transmission of endangered knowledge of Japanese carving tool technology.