The kanji on the front of the
kannami, 木口, are interesting. The characters are read as 'koguchi', and aren't, to me, looking much like the inscription of the smith's name by the way they are simply scratched in there. The term '木口', also refers to a
koguchi-ganna, which is a type of plane that has a skewed blade like a
kiwa ganna:
- 582649a996f77dfba70a50c3cc87a630.jpg (77.27 KiB) Viewed 6777 times
The
kiwa ganna is on the left, and the
koguchi-ganna on the right.
The difference is seen when you look at the soles of the planes:
- 2a9734e1ce183ff7a5670f63b2b17fdd.jpg (93.79 KiB) Viewed 6777 times
Besides the dai difference, the
kiwa-ganna blade comes to a sharp point at one corner, which the
koguchi-ganna uses a blade in the same form as that of a regular plane.
'Koguchi' refers also to the end grain of wood, and this plane is especially suited for that:
- 3d85488419c486e747286cbd8314a652.jpg (71.25 KiB) Viewed 6777 times
If you pair a
kiwa ganna with a
koguchi ganna, you obtain a set referred to as
dō-zuki ganna - yes, just like the name of the saw with the stiffening back. Confusingly, some Japanese sites will call a left-right pair of
kiwa ganna a
dō-zuki ganna set, which I think is in error.
Looking on the Takenaka Tool Museum
http://www.dougukan.jp/tools/30 listing, it has a listing for
koguchi ganna. It also describes the tool as similar looking to a
kiwa-ganna, distinguishing them in the fact that with the
koguchi-ganna, the "side slope of the plane mouth faces the opposite way".
I'm guessing your plane was originally used in a
koguchi-ganna. Did you purchase only the blade? It looks also like you have made a new
dai for it, yes?