The Japanese saw, or nokogiri, is a saw used in woodworking and in Japanese carpentry that cuts on the pull stroke rather than the push stroke most European saws use. Its growing popularity outside Japan has led to Japanese-style saws being manufactured and sold well beyond the country where the design originated.
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Introduced When (Circa)Not established by the cited source.
Japanese saw (Wikipedia) describes cutting method, design and named saw types (dozuki, ryoba, kataba, azebiki, mawashibiki, kugihiki, oga) but gives no date or era for when the Japanese saw was introduced; checked fresh 2026-09-17 against the raw article extract. OriginJapanese saws, known as nokogiri, are traditionally designed to cut on the pull stroke rather than the push stroke used by most European saws, and were originally intended for cutting comparatively soft woods such as cypress and pine, unlike European saws made for hardwoods such as oak and maple. 1 Sources
1. Japanese Saw (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationCutting method section, Wikipedia article Japanese sawQuote, Cutting method section, Wikipedia article Japanese saw
Japanese saws were originally intended for comparatively soft woods such as cypress and pine, whereas European saws were intended for hard woods such as oak and maple.
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