鉋 Kanna

The Japanese kanna (plane) was described in 1712 in the Illustrated Sino-Japanese Encyclopedia as similar to a short spear or lance.

The word kanna was originally used to describe a tool made of a double-edged blade attached at an angle to the tip of a pole-shaped handle. This tool was used from the Kofun period until the Middle Ages as a tool for planing material surfaces. Archaeological evidence also suggests this kind of kanna native to Japan was used as far back as the Yayoi period. These tools are referred to today as yari-ganna.

The kanna in use today, which is also called dai-ganna (iron and steel blade set in a wood base), came to Japan from the Asian continent. Kanna were originally pushed across the surface of the wood away from the woodworker. The transition to pulling the plane toward the woodworker, as kanna are used today, occurred in the middle of the Edo period. This change may have been driven by the specific cultural and aesthetic sensibility in Japan that values beautiful wood surface finishes.

Learn about the craftsmanship

想 Feeling

“That’s no good. If you apprentice with me, you’ll live your life in poverty like I have. Give up and go back home to Banshu.”

At the age of 18, Kanki Yoshiryo, who had already set out on the path of bladesmithing, encountered in Osaka a kanna (plane) made by Chiyozuru and was utterly captivated.

Over his family’s objections, Kanki snuck out of the house and set off for Tokyo. Once there, Korehide refused his request to take him on as an apprentice.

Despite the initial rejection, Kanki continued to pursue his dream of becoming the best bladesmith in Japan. So began his days of working at bladesmiths across the Kanto region, while continuing to entreat the master. At times, the would-be apprentice’s pockets were so empty he was forced to drink water from the river.

The year was 1928, and the economy was in the depths of a depression.

• 
  Chiyozuru Korehide
• 
  Chiyozuru Sadahide
• 
  Chiyozuru Sadahide II

Learn about the masters

郷 Home Town, Miki City

Japanese bladesmithing techniques were cultivated in ancient Japan by a clan who worshipped the blacksmith deity Amanomahitotsu no mikoto.

They were called Yamato kaji, or Japanese blacksmiths. When Prince Kei from the ancient Korean kingdom of Baekje immigrated to Japan, Korean blacksmithing techniques that originally developed on the Asian continent were integrated into Yamato kaji, and Japanese blacksmithing evolved dramatically.

With access to the iron sand of the Chugoku mountains to the west and the cinnabar of Mt. Niuyama to the east, the Miki City area became extremely important to the blacksmithing industry. So much so that the territory was put under direct control of the Yamato Imperial Court, and the chairman of the association of craftsmen was appointed to be district chief.

Learn about Miki City
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The village of Miki was later designated a tax-exempt land around the time that the daimyo Bessho Nagaharu ruled the area during the Sengoku period. After defeating Bessho in the siege of Miki Castle, Hashiba Hideyoshi issued a certificate that would allow the manor to collect land rent from farmers, and villagers who had fled during the two-year siege returned. The area became home to a large number of carpenters, and the number of blacksmiths forging carpentry tools surged, as well. With these developments, the foundation for the Miki City of today was established.

When the carpenters left the area for other parts of Japan, they took with them the tools made in Miki, and the superior cut of the Banshu Miki blade became known to craftsmen in other areas of the country. As Japan developed better distribution systems, the superiority of Miki ironware became known throughout the country.

In 1996, the Japanese government designated Banshu Miki blades in saws, irons, chisels, kanna (planes), and kogatana (craft knives) as traditional crafts. Miki City is focused on developing new products, as well as on advancing techniques in an array of other types of tools produced in the area.

• 金剛寺の鐘楼
• 大宮八幡宮
• 志染の岩室
• 清水の洗濯場

• 収穫直前の山田錦
• 三木の田園風景

挑 Challenge

“Integrating traditional techniques handed down over generations with a modern sensibility is an exciting challenge. It is in the repeated attempts to achieve this that new techniques are born.”

Our endeavors to develop new designs and forging techniques are driven by our pursuit of the inherent beauty of iron and steel.

And we believe that our pursuit of this beauty will provide the motivation for the next generation to embrace these same challenges.

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