Kogei no Bi

This is a privately published edition (shihanbon), limited to 150 copies, issued as a single volume in 1942 (Shōwa 17). It consists of two excerpts from Yanagi's book Kōgei no Michi (The Way of Crafts), first published at the end of 1928: the first chapter and the first section of the fourth chapter.

"I had long held the wish to separate these parts and make them into a single book, for I believed that this would express my fundamental thoughts on craft in the simplest and clearest form.

The reason I have chosen to issue several of my books as private editions is solely to achieve proper bookbinding. Since a book is itself a work of craft, I feel that attempting proper binding is a duty for someone like myself."

— Excerpt from the author's afterword

The text is printed on Mitsumata paper from Ogawa, Bushū (present-day Saitama Prefecture). The cover is bengara-dyed kudzu cloth (kuzufu) woven with cotton warp threads. The small illustrations (koma-e) are by Keisuke Serizawa.

There is a previous owner's stamp on the title page.