Sanjo Industry

  Pruning scissors cover a wide range of uses, from flowers, bosai, gardening, fruits, and landscaping.  To trace back its origin and history is very difficult because of it's dynamic range. Floral scissors began in the Muromachi period, (1330s-1570s) and by the mid-Edo period there were close to 3000 flower arranging schools and each school utilized their own style of flower arranging scissor. And similarily, bonsai has a very rich history in Japan dating even further back. But, specialized bonsai scissors is still a new item and only has a short history of about 100 years.

  Pruning scissors began production in Sanjo in the Keio Period (1865-1868), and many of the businesses that dealt with pruning scissors closely worked together. Therefore, blacksmiths responsible for the production made pruning scissors to order when required. With the introduction of spring hammers, air hammers and pressing machines the city of Sanjo was able to begin mass production of pruning scissors by the late 1950s. By the mid-1960s with the birth of automated sharpening machines, roll forging, and press forging machines the production of pruning scissors further developed.