Ikenami Hamono Tanebasami | 4-sun black-forged with tsubaki cover

'4-sun' Tanebasami Scissors
Overall length: 12.12 cm (approx 4.75")
Perfect for: fine handcrafts, sewing, thread-cutting, general snipping.
Weight in hand: 32g
Hand-made cloth cover in Taisho-vibe 'tsubaki' design with dusky blue lining, as pictured. 'Tsubaki' is camelia, the Taisho era from 1912 to 1926 is strongly associated with Japanese art-nouveau.
Card box, gift-wrapped in Tanegashima-themed paper.
Free worldwide shipping.

Tanebasami scissors have been produced on the island of Tanegashima since 1543. They are available in four sizes, these are the smallest, ideal for snipping and very fine work. They are sharply pointed and cut with great accuracy right to the very tip of the blades.

Stainless steel has many advantages but sharpness isn't among them. Tanebasami are hand-forged from high carbon steel and they are astonishingly sharp. The black finish on this pair is the traditional means of rust-protection, and is achieved by the application of oil at the end of the forging process. Still, please be aware these scissors should be kept clean and dry to avoid rust spots on the naked steel. If you live in a humid environment please store them in the supplied corrosion-inhibiting paper sleeve.

 Traditional Japanese scissors. Amazingly sharp.

YSS Shirogami white#1 steel.
Hand-forged on Tanegashima Island. 

When we first encountered these scissors, an older and wiser head convinced us that because of their special steel and their unique blade shape and action that they are actually self sharpening, something we'd never heard of but were rather enthusiastic about. We had to have a pair! 

So we journeyed to Tanegashima, where Ikenami san of the Ikenami Hamono company set us straight. There's no such thing as self-sharpening scissors (he was looking at us a bit oddly, come to think of it.) 

But Tanebasami are the next best thing. You just won't credit how wonderful these scissors really are. Cutting fabric is like cutting nothing at all, with an incredibly smooth blade action that cuts right to the very tip. Choki-choki! They're hand-forged and hand-finished by a Master Craftsman. A real one. 

They're beautiful, or at least we think so. They have a wonderful balance and cut unbelievably cleanly (this we know). And they have an intangible quality that just makes you want to go around cutting things. 

Tanegasami sizes are in the old measure of Japanese 'sun', (written as 寸 and pronounced as in 'gesundheit').