What are some examples of supreme craftsmanship?

The Takumi from Nissan.

There are only five of them.

They are master craftsmen who have honed their skills to perfection over years or even decades.

Nissan currently employs exactly five of these so-called Takumi: Izumi Shioya, Tetsushi Matsumoto, Tsunemi Ooyama, Hiroyuki Ichikawa and Takumi Kurosawa.

And what is their job?

They are the only ones who are allowed to assemble the engine of the legendary Nissan GT- R.

Here, the rule is: “One man, one engine.”

In around six hours, 374 individual parts are assembled in a clean room with a temperature of 23 degrees Celsius to create an engine that produces 550 hp in its current version and 570 hp in the new version.

And only one of the five Takumi has laid a hand on it. Afterwards, the engine receives a plaque with its name.

The Takumi say that it is precisely this plaque that makes them concentrate even more.

Nissan affords these men the luxury because, unlike a machine, they can sense the smallest crevices and, above all, dust grains or other impurities by hand. A deviation of just ten micrometers can have a negative impact on the performance of the unit.

After being assembled, each engine ends up on the test bench. There, it is first revved up to 3,000 rpm, then filled with oil and checked by hand for vibrations.

I think it must be very fulfilling work, and Nissan will take good care of its takumi, because they don’t just grow back.