masakari　鉞

KEY WORD :　architecture / tools

A carpenter's hewing ax. It is smaller than a tree-felling ax, tazuchi 多都岐, and weighs between 750 and 1300g. The blade is double edged, moroba 両刃, with a steel core sandwiched by the metal layers, jigane 地金, on each side. This ax was an essential tool for rough hewing work and for smoothing logs to be used as pillars and beams. However, with the advent of electrification and prefabricated components, this ax fell out of use and is rarely found in most carpenters set of tools now. It is still used by carpenter's who work on shrines and temples, for example the shrine at Ise Jinguu 伊勢神宮 in Mie prefecture, and many other shrines and temples in Nara and Kyoto.

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