One wonders if any of these men stopped to do a bit of simple arithmetic. '3,000 sheets per day of about eight hours ...'

That's 9.6 seconds each, not including time for mixing colours, etc. I have watched a lot of printers at work here in Tokyo, and can confirm that yes, an impression can be taken in less than ten seconds, but only an impression from a very small colour block, or only in an extremely rough fashion. The idea of taking that many impressions from a 'nishiki-e' key block in one day rather stretches credulity.

One is led to suspect that Mr. Tokuno's knowledge of all these matters was rather second-hand. We are told that he was a Bureau Chief in the Ministry of Finance, and I would think that in those days, just as at the present time, such a high-level government bureaucrat would have no possible means of contact with 'low level' craftsmen. The two worlds were miles apart. These inquiries and responses must have been passed down and up a long chain of civil servants.