Any area of technology has some sort of measure used to judge whether the producer is skilled or clumsy, and the product is of good or poor quality. With spinning yarn and weaving, skills that used to be done exclusively by hand, becoming more skilled offered advantages, such as better quality textiles able to withstand practical use as clothing or towels. The invention of spinning machinery and power looms in the 18th century and their subsequent introduction into Japan brought an end to this tradition. Interest in Japanese handiwork is reawakened in this small book through detailed descriptions of the process of making cotton towels by hand, from cultivation to final product.