Usubori-Chona Japanese Traditional Wooden Mortar Craftsman Tool/Adze - 85mm

Smith name: Unknown

Steel: Carbon Steel

Blade length: 146mm

Blade width: 85mm

Manufacture Era: Before 1980

Blade Weight: 720g

Accessories: -

Additional Information: Unused, in good condition. This is a Usubori-Chona(臼彫りちょうな) which is more like the common Japanese carpenter Chona. I found it in a professional tool shop in Chiba. The current owner doesn't know its specific use because it was purchased by his father more than 40 years ago. 

Although it does not have any mark indicating the identity of the blacksmith, its exquisite forging skills indicate that it was made by a highly skilled blacksmith. The entire Chona has only a few traces of file use. Its style is similar to the 「火造りっばなし」hammer of Master Kosaburo.

At 24:25 seconds in the video below, the mortar craftsman begins to use Usubori-Chona (Recent popular styles).

Amateur interview with a Usu (mortar maker for Japanese traditional food "MOCHI") in Hirabayashi, Yamanashi Prefecture, where Usu-making has continued for over 700 years (from the Kamakura era, two periods before the Edo era).

臼（Usu） is a wooden container. It has a bowl-like shape dug into the end of a full length of log that can withstand a beating, as the video below demonstrates.

https://youtube.com/shorts/FzIh1Y71VzM?si=uOanQTXYQUe0wReo