It's easier as a foreigner to become a Shinto priest than a miya-daiku trainee. BC carpentry is a serious religion.

Aside: When Jobs said great artists steal [from Picasso], he forgot to mention that theft is the heart of apprenticeship:

https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q12...

(As you can see, it's semi-formalized in that culture)

New sengu has just started, btw