2 Development History of Saw

The appearance of saws is old, and it seems that primitive ones were beginning to be used in the Paleolithic age. However, it seems that it began to be used as a woodworking tool only after the appearance of metal saws. Bronze saws were already used in Egypt before the BC and Yin Zhou era in China, and especially in Egypt, around the 14th century BC, there were almost no different things from the current one. Iron saws began to be used in the Roman era in Western Europe and in the Hata and Han eras in China. It has been given the slope and clams of saw teeth that were not found in bronze saws, and the processing capacity seems to have improved significantly.

In Japan, stone axes were the main tools for processing in the primitives. In the Yayoi period, iron technology was introduced and iron Axe began to be used, but the emergence of iron saws was quite late in the early Kofun period period. However, the saw from the early Kofun period is a simple one with bare teeth carved on a strip-shaped iron plate, and there is a question mark as to whether it was used for architectural production. In the late Kofun period, in the latter half of the Kofun period, many have stems for attaching wooden patterns, and progress as woodworking tools, such as those with saw teeth with Gaga ri eyes and clams and nageshi.

The number of saws buried in tumuli during the Kofun period has decreased as the construction of tumuli decreases, and there are few surviving from Asuka and Nara period to the Kamakura period. Many of the existing saws have a unique shape, and there are many unclear points, but it is probable that they were larger than in the previous era and almost completed as woodworking tools. Among them, the treasure saw donated by Horyuji Temple is the oldest saw as a tradition, and although the saw body is partially damaged, it is a valuable one that completely preserves the wooden pattern.

The oldest example of an existing wooden building that leaves traces of saws is the building of Horyuji Temple. According to a survey at the time of repair, saw marks (horizontal grind) were found on the cutting surface of Oto.

In the Middle Ages, picture scrolls show that a "leaf-shaped saw" was used, in which saw teeth were curved and the tip was pointed. The saw of this form seems to have been used until the middle of the Edo period, but there are few excavations.

From the viewpoint of sawing, until the middle of the Muromachi period, there was no vertical saw in Japan, and sawing was performed by a chisel-breaking method, but in the Middle Ages, two-man sawing vertical saw "Oga" was brought from the continent. When it was brought, the lumber capacity was dramatically improved and had a major impact on architectural production. This saw disappears in a short period of time in Japan, but it was changed to a single-minded "Maebiki-oga Wide Blade Ripsaw" and a small split "Gaga-ri", and was replaced by a machine sawmill in the middle of the Meiji era. In particular, Maebiki-oga Wide Blade Ripsaw with a wide saw body is a unique saw in Japan.

In the Edo period, saws were fragmented by application due to improved tool productivity and differentiation of occupations, and it is believed that many forms of traditional saw seen today were available. It was around this time that saw production areas such as Aizu and Miki occurred. In the Meiji era, double-edge saws as seen today occurred and became widespread.

On the other hand, the mechanization of sawmills, which began in the Meiji era, gradually replaced the tools, and after the war, carpentry was mechanized by the dramatically developed power tools, and today, saws as hand tools have finished their development. It looks like it has done. However, it is also true that there are not many carpenters who seek good saws in search of the texture and accuracy brought by the tools.

(Significantly added to the catalog commentary on the 1996 exhibition "Saw's Microspace")