hegi へぎ

Written 折, 片木, or 剥.

1　A sculpture process of thinly shaving or scraping.

2　Abbreviation of hegi-ita 折板, meaning shingle or splint. In clay statuary *sozō 塑造 this referred to small pieces of wood which were used in the construction of the inner core *shingi 心木. Clay statues sometimes used a complex inner core, which supported the outer layers of clay modeling. To make the structure of a wide robe for example, hegi were used, sometimes together with copper plates fixed together with metal pins and hemp thread *asao 麻紵. The term hegi was not used to refer to the main timbers of a wooden core, but only to the smaller elements used in the interstices of a complex structure. Hegi were often made from Japanese cypress hinoki 桧.