It is elsewhere stated on this website that Japanese Clock-Smiths made all parts of a Wadokei and that specialization among craftsmen regarding the production of single parts of timepieces did not develop in Edo Period Japan in the way it did in Europe.

However, in addition to “tokei-shi” – Clock-Smiths, and to “tokei-ya” – Clock-Makers or Clock-Shop-Owners who sold Wadokei, there were other crafts that supported the “tokei-shi”.  Some of these were:

• kata shi – mould maker
• kazari shi – metal worker
• kin pun shi – gold dust maker
• makie-shi – gold lacquerer
• nurimono shi – lacquerer
• sen gai shi or yana shi – wire maker
• suzu hari – bell maker
• zogan shi – inlayer

Wages for ordinary people were paid mostly in copper and silver coins.  Wages for the Samurai class, which accounted for 10% of the total population, were paid in amounts of rice. The Tokugawa shogun granted the Samurai a fief, the stipend was measured by the volume of rice the region could be expected to produce. Three times a year the Samurai sold the rice collected as a land tax to traders – the Samurai were better served with money they could spend on goods – part of the problem Japan’s economy faced.