Tategu Shokunin No Sen Taro (Kumon No Jido Bungaku)

[Machine Translation] It was around the end of the Edo period. At the age of only seven, Sentaro was sent to work as an apprentice. His apprenticeship was with a joiner's shop, Kenki, in Tsurumi Village (now Tsurumi Ward, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture). Still playing with his friends, Chitaro had no desire to become a joiner. However, he is encouraged by his older sister, ko, who came to work for him before him, and through his interaction with the craftsmen at Kenki, he eventually comes to think that he, too, would like to become a skilled joiner.

江戸時代の終わりごろ-。千太郎は、わずか七歳で、奉公に出されることになった。奉公先は、鶴見村(いまの神奈川県横浜市鶴見区)の建具屋「建喜」。まだ、友だちと遊んでいたいさかりの、千太郎には、建具職人になろうだなんて気は、さらさらない。だが、先に奉公にきていた姉、おこうにはげまされたり、建喜の職人たちとのふれあいのなかで、いつしか自分も、腕のよい建具職人になりたい、と思うようになる。