isarai 鋳浚

Also izarai. A finishing stage in the making of cast metal statues. When a cast statue was removed from its mold, there were rough or badly defined areas on its surface. A graver *tagane 鏨 was used to level these areas to create a beautiful, smooth finish. This work was known as isarai. Isarai was used on many ancient Japanese statues, and was particularly appropriate when working with relatively soft metals like bronze.