Sanjo Industry

  In 1884, Nobuyoshi the second son of the Yoita town's farming-tool blacksmith Mr. Kuribayasi, moved to the blacksmithing neighbourhood of Sanjo. Also Densaku Tsutsumu, a pupil of Yoita's master blacksmith moved to the Sanjo area at a similar time and along with him, brought and spread his skills of making Japanese wooden planes. Even before this time, in 1882 Yoita's chisel maker Kawauchi Shoji migrated to Sanjo, and his disciple Nagaoke Yonetaro became a plane craftsman and many other disciples have carried on the craftmenship.

  In the past, carpenters would normally carve their own wooden plane block and smoothed the plane bed for their own use. But after 1887, an original plane stock builder Tazawa Torakichi led the industry in wooden plane making and set the industry standard along with training many other master wooden plane makers. Following the mid-1890s, planing was no longer considered to be only performed by professionals. Planing has spread to DIYs and as part of school woodworking curriculums.

  *Japanese planes can produce shavings as thin as 10 microns. Hence, the plane is considered to be a carpenters prized tool.