Just to show the European hewing technique as a contrast to the Japanese, here is some video again from 2005 Kesurokai. The technique of hewing by cutting out notches, chopping off the block between and then finishing the surface with a wide bladed axe is the same as was used in Britain to create all our wonderful timber framed buildings. The marks of the axe are very distinctive and quite different to adze marks. Hewing with an axe takes a little time but in some ways it is very energy efficient. The timber does not have to be carted to a sawmill and then carted back again, traditionaly trees were grown to just the right size for building timbers rather than growing very big trees that then needed a lot of power to cut them up. As you can see with skill and sharp tools beams can be squared up this way quite quickly.