oh no, who made this ono??

Do you have a Japanese plane, or chisel, or box, or brochure and you can't read the characters? Post a hi-res. pic of what you are looking to read and see if the mystery can be solved!
everythingsings
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oh no, who made this ono??

Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:25 pm

just bought this axe from a collection of many incredible tools, wondering if someone can pull a name off of it??

ono? oh yes.
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Chris Hall
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Re: oh no, who made this ono??

Tue Jul 07, 2015 8:49 am

Ah, nice to see clearly legible kanji for once, and not in a cursive style so they are relatively easy to read.

This is what you have:

本則弘

That's read hon-norihiro

'Hon', , in this context, generally means the 'main~', the 'genuine~'

Norihiro seems to have made a variety of adzes, hatchets and axes, but I haven't been able to find any solid info on the smith or his history. His name appears in Volume 6 of a series from the Takenaka Carpentry Museum in a listing of axe and hatchet makers. It appears the smith was active in Niigata in the early Shōwa period, but information is scant otherwise.
everythingsings
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Re: oh no, who made this ono??

Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:12 am

thanks Chris. always exciting to find out the kanji on a pre-owned tool doesn't say, "Generic Tool."

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