A plane thought to have been the only plane employed in ancient times to pare and finish timber. Today carpenters do not use this plane for ordinary building work, but it is sometimes used to meet special requirements in temple and shrine architecture. The yariganna is shaped like a spear called yari 槍, used by soldiers in battle in ancient times. The plane has a long, narrow, leaf-shape blade attached to the end of a handle, rather like a large chisel. With most other planes, the cutting blade is fitted into a plane stock, and the paring process can be controlled by the projection of the blade from the sole. This is not possible with the yariganna, so the quality of the timber finish depends entirely on the skill of the craftsman.
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