ISHIKAWA PREFECTURE, JAPAN—The Asahi Shimbun reports that an intact carpenter’s tool has been unearthed at the Yokaichijikata site on the island of Honshu. The 2,300-year-old tool is made up of an iron yariganna, or cutting pike plane, measuring about six inches long. The iron is thought to have been imported from overseas, since the tool predates known iron production in Japan. The upper part of the iron bar was inserted into a carved haft, the top of which resembles the handle of a baseball bat, and was affixed with tape made of Japanese cherry bark. The small tool may have been used with just one hand to smooth wooden surfaces. Much larger yariganna would have been used with two hands. The tool could provide information on how iron was traded throughout the Japanese archipelago. For more, go to “Japan’s Early Anglers.”
