Kanna (Japanese pull plane)
Kanna (cepillo japonés de tiro)
- Date
- c. century XV · confidence low
- Place
- Kyoto, Kansai, Japan
- Credited to
- Japanese carpenters (Muromachi period)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A wooden-bodied plane in oak with a blade of very hard laminated steel that cuts on the pull toward the carpenter, not on the push. It replaced the older yariganna or spear plane and produced extremely thin shavings and surfaces needing no sanding.
The date of the dai-kanna (box-bodied bench plane) is uncertain: most sources place it in the Muromachi period (1336-1573), possibly with Chinese influence, but no well-dated find serves as first evidence.
What it led to
- smooth finish of columns, floors and furniture in Japanese timber architecture
- the highly refined trade of blade tuning
- adoption of the pull plane by Western cabinetmakers