AFAIK the Japanese benefited from significant joinery knowledge from China circa the Nara period (~700CE). In Japan they rebuild temples regularly using these t

AFAIK the Japanese benefited from significant joinery knowledge from China circa the Nara period (~700CE). In Japan they rebuild temples regularly using these techniques and have thus kept them alive, and also have old standing examples. However, China lost most examples in the cultural revolution. I have visited what was at the time allegedly the oldest dated example in southern China, a temple north of Ningbo, and while impressive it is nothing on what's in Japan. That said, this is more about material science than joinery.