Our old dojo was built by Sensei with help from a Japanese carpenter. Not until after the old dojo was demolished was I able to see the true craftsmanship. They used local woods that some might grade inferior and turned it into a pieces of beauty. One of the interesting things was that the floors were made with wood one might use on a outside fence, but you would have never known it by looking at it or touching it. They must have used a Japanese plane to create the finish because in the 17 years I was there I can't recall us ever "re-staining" the floors. If they would have used sandpaper and stain to create the finish, we would have had to re-do it after a couple of years. You can see this now as the new floors need to be re-stained. I found this video documentary below. It is quite interesting even if one isn't interested in carpentry because they discuss the Japanese mindset and philosophy as it pertains to carpentry. One of the hallmarks of Japanese culture is to live in harmony with nature and you can see it reflected in how these people build things. Miyamoto Musashi said, "To know one way is to know all ways" and so we can understand our own way as we learn about other ones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMtSc2MJLcw