Ise Jingu and the Pyramid of Enabling Technologies

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but this is such a rich and beautiful story I couldn't resist sharing. Practically speaking, the essay is about "tech", but it's got a wealth of inspiration for designers and artisans of all kinds.

But the most important technology at Jingu is social - it’s the transfer of skills and techniques from one generation to the next, ensuring the temples and artifacts can continue to be reproduced accurately. This sort of knowledge is difficult to document - it exists as reflexes and muscle movements that are beyond the reach of language, or as decisions that are so context and environment dependent that it’s infeasible to explain them. The techniques used to build Jingu depend on experience and expertise; learning them requires practice and feedback. Transferring the knowledge required to build the shrines can’t be done with words or text. The only way to pass it on is to create the conditions for someone to acquire it.

The rebuilding process at Jingu is designed to make sure this knowledge transfer occurs. Crews of junior workers are led by a senior carpenter, and the entire construction effort is overseen by a group of senior workers who have participated in multiple sengus. Workers who apply to work on the rebuilding undergo a rigorous selection process, and those selected for one sengu must agree to return for the following one, to ensure an unbroken chain of instruction. Training the younger workers, ensuring the techniques and traditions are passed down from generation to generation, is carried out as faithfully as the rebuilding itself.