During the last twenty-five years, farming village life in Japan
has changed rapidly as a consequence of high economic growth
rates. During that period most traditional tools and devices
have been replaced by modern appliances and farming implements.
Some folklorists have endeavored to conduct research on
and to preserve traditional tools and implements. As a result
in many villages, towns and cities folk museums and societies for
the study of folk tools have come into being. The catalogues of
these museums should now be made using advanced imformation
processing techniques to provide an important research tool.