{"id":81110,"date":"2026-08-27T07:14:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/81110\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T07:14:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:14:21","slug":"best-japanese-gardening-tools-tested-by-a-professional-gardener-japanese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/81110\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Japanese gardening tools, tested by a professional gardener Japanese"},"content":{"rendered":"

I bought my first Japanese gardening tool for the wrong reason. I had just started working as a professional gardener in London, driving around the capital in a van, weeding here, pruning there, and learning as I went. I spotted a hori hori knife online and bought it because I liked the idea of having a rather serious-looking gardening knife hanging from my belt.<\/p>\n

It turned out to be useful for almost everything. Weeding<\/a>, planting bulbs, dividing perennials, cutting roots, opening bags of compost<\/a>. It rarely left my side and was my first introduction to Japanese gardening tools. Niwaki shears and Okatsune secateurs<\/a> followed, and nearly a decade later, I am firmly a convert.<\/p>\n

I am far from alone. Japanese gardening tools have become increasingly popular with professional and amateur gardeners alike, not least Monty Don<\/a>. Many are still produced in traditional toolmaking regions of Japan, where generations of craftspeople have developed and refined techniques.<\/p>\n

They are undoubtedly an investment, so I tested a variety to see which are worth a space in your shed.<\/p>\n

JUMP TO REVIEWS<\/a><\/p>\n

What makes Japanese gardening tools different?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about the steel. Many traditional Japanese tools use high-carbon steel, which gives an exceptionally sharp edge. The trade-off is maintenance: carbon steel can rust if left wet or covered in sap, so these tools need cleaning and drying after each use. Stainless steel generally requires less care, although keen gardeners may notice its lesser cutting performance and feel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I bought my first Japanese gardening tool for the wrong reason. I had just started working as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51949,10028,51945,23724,8,17,27913,51947,51948,51944,51946],"class_list":["post-81110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-buying-guide","tag-gardening","tag-gardening-tools","tag-gardens","tag-japan","tag-japanese","tag-maintenance","tag-recommended","tag-recommended-garden","tag-sheds-garden-sheds","tag-special-exclusion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}