Japanese paring chisels are made like most other Japanese chisels, the cutting edge is made of an exceptionally hard brittle steel which is forge welded to a softer iron section. This softer area absorbs shocks and supports the steel, without it the brittle steel could crack!
The back of the chisel is hollow ground to make sharpening easier, even with this hollow the back still took a lot of time to flatten as the steel is ridiculously hard!
The following photos show the blade in more detail.
That’s all for January, look out for next months post in a few weeks!