Keywords
Architecture
Tools
Also called shōjiki 正直. A plumb line with a plumb bob, furiko 振子, at the lower end. The plumb bob is a conical shaped and hung with the pointed end down. The bob weighs from 0.2 to 1.0 kg. Its purpose is to check that vertical timbers in a structure are exactly perpendicular to the horizontal structural elements to which they are to be attached. The term sagesumi 下墨, a shortened form for sagesuminawa 下墨縄, is a carpenter's inked string that is suspended next to a pillar to ascertain whether or not it is vertical.