Originally Posted by
Mike Blue
Bruno, of the Japanese smiths shops I've been to...the young men work kneeling or squatting on the floor. As they get older and their knees suffer the effects of carrying more birthdays...they move the floor downward. One of the most entertaining fellows put a solid floor on the bottom and had a nice little roll about stool in the pit. We had a huge laugh with him about that when we asked why not simply raise the equipment up to waist height and work from a solid floor.
The simple answer is that it is their tradition to do it this way.