The particularly renowned kurokuwa among ordinary citizens was a unit of 'kurokuwa,' a group of civil engineers in Chita County, Owari Province which was one of the production areas of kurokuwa (tool) and which held waju (settlement surrounded by dike) area in the downstream of Kiso-gawa River and Nagara-gawa River in the neighborhood, and such kurokuwa worked away from home to participate in the land development for civil engineering, flood prevention works and cultivation of new rice fields in various places.
特に民間においては、（道具の）黒鍬の産地の1つで近くに木曽川・長良川下流の輪中地帯を抱えていた尾張国知多郡の土工集団の「黒鍬」組は著名であり、各地に出稼ぎをして土木・治水工事・新田開発のための土地整備に参加した。