big old Japanese saw

Yesterday the postman brought an unexpected gift from Japan, a big old Japanese saw.

It is wonderful condition and sharpened ready to use. This was sent to me by my friend Tomio.
When I spent time working with traditional Japanese carpenters last year this was the particular saw that I most coveted. More details and pictures of the saws in Japan on this post from last year. This particular type is apparently called  “Madonoko” or “window saw” the windows being the deep gullets to carry away sawdust during rapid cross cutting.

Also in the parcel was a book showing archaeological woodware with much turned work from Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Archaeology. This again was very exciting for me, I have seen a few pictures of old turned Japanese woodware before particularly laquerware and there is such a strong tradition of laquered woodware surviving today I knew there must be a long history. I hope to post some pictures when I have talked more with Tomio about the individual pieces and know more about where and when they are from. See one of Tomio’s gorgeos turned laquered bowls here.