He couldn't drive a nail in the wall to hang a picture or patch a hole in the plaster.
He lacked the skills to patch plaster or pound a nail into a wall.
The state of Yamato, as early Japan was known, was organized into uji, or clusters of clans, together with subordinate guilds of farmers, fishermen, hunters, weavers, and potters, all subject to the dominant uji of the imperial family.