Taking the kendama in his hand, Jin moved it back and forth, left and right, as if to check its weight and balance.

The ball connected to the ball by a takoyo (octopus thread) swayed accordingly.

And then...

"Yo!"

"Whoa!"

"Oh."

"Oh," "Oh," "Oh," "Oh," "Oh," "Oh," "Oh,"

It's called furiken. The ball is swung like a pendulum and caught by a sharp point called a kensaki.

Jin succeeded on the first try.

"Jin-sama, that's great!

"It's been a while since I've done it, so I wasn't sure."

Jin tried again. This time he failed.

"One more time."

In the end, Jin succeeded 7 out of 10 times.

"Let me try again.

Reinhardt, who was watching from the side, said. Jin handed him a kendama.

"You'd better start with a platter ......".

But then Reinhardt suddenly played furiken and .......

"Ouch!"

He hit the ball in his own face.

"Brother Rai, are you okay?　......<>"

"Ouch!"......Erza, thank you. It's ...... surprisingly hard to do, isn't it?"

"That's why I was going to say you should start with the platter."

Jin took the kendama from Reinhardt and held it horizontally this time and caught the ball in the largest receptacle, called the platter.

"This is hard, too. You have to use your arms and knees as well as your hands to keep the ball from bouncing.

"Brother Jin, let me try."

Erza said she wanted to play, so Jin handed her the ball.

"Let's see,...... like this?"

Erza swung the ball and caught the bouncing ball on a platter.

In doing so, she made sure that her knees were well cushioned so that the ball would not bounce.

"Oh, that's good, that's good!"

Jin complimented. Elsa has good moves.

She seemed to have gotten the hang of it after a few times, and was able to catch the ball on the opposite side of the big dish, called the small dish, without making any mistakes.

Reinhardt, on the other hand...

"Yo!　...... Oh, no."

Surprisingly, he seems to be clumsy at this kind of game.

After playing with kendama for a while, Jin remembers why he came to this workshop.

"Uh, ......."

Jin looked around the workshop and noticed a corner where some small articles were being made.

"Excuse me, may I use this corner?

Hitoshi asked the owner of the workshop, Tazza Kuroda, and when he received his permission, he immediately began to work on it.

"So the saw is about the same. The saw is also a sawing type. ......"

Most Western-style saws and planers are of the push-to-cut type, but this one was of the pull-type, which Jin was accustomed to using.

"Well, let's have this piece of square wood."

As Jin produced something, Erza and Reinhard stopped practicing kendama and came to observe.

"Jin, what are you making?　What are you making, Jin?

"Well, just watch. Well, just look at it. To put these together at equal intervals, you need to use ......."

Take two pieces of wood about 30 centimeters long. Then dig grooves in them at equal intervals.

"...... ladder toy?"

What Jin was making looked like a small little ladder.

"This is definitely a ladder. But that's not all."

For the rungs of the ladder, he used square timbers of the right thickness for the groove.

"Well, well, well."

Jin is happy to see that his woodworking skills have not rusted.

"Now I have to make the pieces. ......

Jin moves his hands while talking to himself.

Elsa and Reiko, who are standing by, watch him closely, knowing that this is when Jin is in a good mood.

"It's done."

It took about an hour to complete.

"Thank you for helping us with the materials, Mr. Cloda.

Jin thanks the owner of the workshop.

"So, what did you make?

Those who had been silently watching were curious.

"Well, it's a toy called 'Hashigakudari'.

A ladder stands vertically on a square board that serves as a base.

When you place a <> on the ladder, you will see .......

"Ah!"

"Oh!"

"Interesting!"

Erza, Croda, Mii and the others exclaim in surprise.

< are spinning and moving down the ladder. It looks like a light magician.

"You got it right the first time. You haven't lost your skill yet."

Jin was pleased.

"Oh ...... is this another toy from Jin's hometown?"

Reinhardt asked, looking at the structure.

"Yes. I made a few of these in the past.

"Heh. ......."

Then Tatzer Kroda called out to him.

"Mr. Jin, may I make one of these for the children?"

Yes, you may. You may color the pieces and draw pictures on them.

"I see.

You're the master Jin!

For this idea, Jin received a large amount of miso paste and alum.

He was grateful for the alum because it is not available in Horai Island, and the miso tastes different depending on the place.

This was the end of the tour for the day.

* * * *

"d*mn, I can't do it right!"

As a souvenir of the visit to the workshop, Jin and the others received a kendama for each of them.

Reinhardt has been practicing in his spare time, but he can't seem to get any better.

"Brother Rai, you have too much tension in your shoulders.

Erza, on the other hand, has mastered the technique called , in which she moves the balls around a large plate, a small plate, a medium plate, and a kendo ball.

She succeeded three times out of ten.

And then.

"Father, is this all right?"

"Oh, yes, that's it. ......"

Reiko had already mastered all the techniques that Jin knew, with an almost 100 percent success rate.