Teruki Kamiya needs to travel further than most to hone his skills.

As the founder and most experienced member of the Dry Stone Walling Association of Japan, the Aichi Prefecture-based craftsman’s only option is to return to the United Kingdom to learn under the master craftsmen who first taught him the ancient craft of drystone walling more than 10 years ago. At that time, he became the first person to travel from Asia to learn the ancient skill, which dates from the Neolithic age.

To many craftspeople, the construction of walls and other structures without any binding agent is synonymous with the United Kingdom. Although evidence shows that drystone walls have been prevalent throughout history in Europe, the Middle East, North America and Oceania, some of the oldest examples of the craft are in Cornwall, southern England, dating from 5,000 B.C.