Help from the gods was known as tariki, but the successful carpenter also had to practice jiriki, or ‘self-help’. The Japanese have never been a people who put much stock in a rewarding afterlife or in the promise of reincarnation. Connection to the divine energy of the cosmos could be achieved in this world, at any given moment, by self-sacrifice and self-discipline. This was an inward journey requiring no external gods or theology and best expressed by the Japanese concept of Zen. While Zen means ‘meditation’, it also means mindfulness and personal awareness. It is the ability to shut out the world and concentrate on the task at hand.
For the carpenter, it is achieving ‘oneness’ with the tools and materials of his trade through self-denial, or muga. There is harmony between the will and the act. Whether you are simply sawing planks or fixing your attention on a complex joint, you need to control your body, expend the correct amount of effort, and regulate your breathing. This philosophy permeates all aspects of traditional life in Japan, even the most mundane tasks. This explains why such simple things as flower arrangement and tea service have become high art.
Mysteries of the Carpenter 