Kintaro Yazawa's woodworking and design skills were initially cultivated by Monsieur Marc Garnier, a French organ builder who builds baroque style organs in a traditional way. The influence of the French country furniture and the British Arts and Crafts Movement are also clear in Yazawa's work.

Kintaro also incorporates techniques of the traditional Japanese woodworking, which he learned on his own. In addition, he developed his own methods and techniques of joinery.

Joints are commonly concealed in woodworking. But Kintaro exposes them positively as a design element. Tenons are often protruded in his work to show the honesty and strength of the joint work. Some of the tenons are originally designed in picturesque figures, which he calles 'Ornamental Joints'.

Drawing from Japanese traditional design and techniques Kintaro has revived the use of Yariganna, the spear plane, which gives a surface like that of the adze.