Sanjo Industry

  The origin of the production of saws in Sanjo remains uncertain, but there are records of saw forging in 1674 by a blacksmith whom is considered to be the father of Sanjo saws. The emergence of saws into the mainstream of Sanjo is said to have occured around 1718. According to other resources, there are tales that along with sickles and other edged tools, the production of saws were actually introduced from the Aizu region of Japan back in 1661.

  There are other stories of how in the 1830s, the production of saws simply came in result of being the next step of forging Japanese nails . The only definite source available is that, follwing the 1830s, nogogiris were produces as raw materials were much more easily gathered via the Shinano and Ikarashi river, and Sanjo merchants were shipping Sanjo metal goods to more and more people. By the end of the Edo period, the Sanjo merchant's market era also included the Kanto(surrounging Tokyo) and Tohoku(Northeastern Japan) region.

  Once entering the Meiji period, the demand for saw from Sanjo increased, and by the end of the Meiji era the market spread to cover all of Japan. Since the manufacturing process of nogogiris was mainly done by hand, the mechanization of production techniques were not easily introduced.

  Following the end of WWII, due to the loss of many homes from war damages, and the introduction of the income-doubling policy, along with the restructuring and rebuilding of Japan, the demand for saws increased along with the mechanizing the production process.

  Since then, with the development of automatic saw teeth setting machines and the popular use of replaceable blades, the saw industry has also entered another transitional phase.