Nuance between 技法、手法、方法、テクニック、 etc

Question

Basically just wanting to know if there's a clear difference between these words. I get the feeling that テクニック is more like one person's own specific technique for doing a thing (entirely guessing here, but that's what it sounds like to me), while the others are more general. I also know that 方法 is quite general and perhaps just a more formal version of 仕方 (and that 仕方 probably requires a suru verb before it to clarify what method/technique it denotes), but I'm lost on the difference between 技法 and 手法. Could it literally just be that 手法 refers more specifically to hand-made crafts?

Would be really grateful if someone could a) confirm if my assumptions about テクニック and 方法 are correct (please let me know if I'm wrong), and b) explain the 技法 and 手法 difference. Thanks!

Answer 1

You are right about テクニック being specific.

Another thing to note is 方法 is a generic how to; the others imply some sort of skill one needs to learn. In this sense, テクニック/手法/技法 are quite similar.

技法 and 手法 are inter-defined, so practically synonymous. They mean techniques in art, which are mostly done manually, thus are interchangeable (are there crafts not by hand in some way?). Perhaps 技法 has a connotation of more established/technically distinct collection of methods/skills.

テクニック can be used for skills outside art. For example, speaking of sport player's techniques, テクニック is fine but 技法/手法 would be odd.