Adze - Chouna

Japanese: 釿 - ちょうな

A tool used to cut wood. It is a type of axe, but unlike an ordinary vertical axe (yoki, axe), it is also called a horizontal axe because the handle is attached at a right angle to the blade. It is used to smooth out uneven surfaces such as those left after splitting wood with a wedge or axe. Stone blades attached to tree branches have been used since the Stone Age, and iron blades have been excavated from Yayoi ruins and ancient tombs, making its use as old as axes and chisels. Since the carpenter's trade was separated into woodcutter and lumberjack in the Middle Ages, the axe was the most important tool for a carpenter, along with the ink pot, as it was used in the first step of carpentry work.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

木材を削る工具。一種の斧であるが，普通の縦斧(よき(与岐)，鉞（まさかり）)に対し，刃に直角方向に柄がつくので横斧ともいわれる。木材を箭（や）(楔)や斧で割ったあとなどの凹凸(不陸（ふろく）という)面を平らにするために用いる。石刃を樹枝に結わえたものは石器時代から使われ，弥生遺跡や古墳からは鉄製の刃が出土し，その利用の歴史は斧，鑿（のみ）とともに古い。中世に樵（きこり），杣（そま）と大工の仕事がわかれて以来，釿は大工仕事の最初の工程に使われる工具として，墨壺とともに大工の最も重要な工具であった。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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