THE MIHO is the accumulation of forging and lamination technologies as well as experience developed over years of meticulous craftsmanship. In the spirit of the Katana Kokaji, we see it as our duty to handcraft every shear with an edge of unique worth and sharpness.

 

KOKAJI

Blacksmiths of Ancient Japan fell into two categories, the Okaji and the Kokaji. The Okaji created the iron, while the Kokaji crafted the iron. The ancient Japanese performance art of Noh features a play about a Katana Kokaji (sword Kokaji) who receives a royal command to craft a sword of unique worth and sharpness. At first unable to execute this order, he offers homage at a shrine, finds the will and is ultimately divinely assisted in the completion of his duty.  

 

Ancient samurais entered the battle with their prized swords, a symbol of their pride on the battlefield. Now you can accelerate your hairdressing career with the present day Japanese samurai sword.

 

Believe in yourself.

​

Believe in your cutting tools.

 

These handcrafted Japanese scissors will help you progress to the next level in your career.

​

Today's demanding hair fashion requires a scissor to be an extension of a hair designer's hand and an expression of their creativity. Opened and closed tens of thousands of times, a scissor must not only retain accuracy and sharpness, but meet each individual's ongoing expectations. For these reasons every scissor is handmade to exacting standards by skilled craftsmen. The end result are scissor edges created in the tradition of the Japanese sword, supported by the unique forging techniques of Sanjo City.

 

Our Damascus scissors are the final vision, of our traditional craftsman's ultimate expression, of a cutting tool.

​

S H I G E Y O S H I - S A N

Our Damascus hair-cutting scissors are created with the beauty and edge of a Japanese sword, under the supervision of Mr. Shigeyoshi Iwasaki, a highly-reputed Sanjo craftsman of Japanese swords. He did significant research on materials of Japanese swords, "Tamahagane", and has spent his entire life making superb blades using both scientific research and practice. He is also famous for his significant research on blades in Shoso-in, an important historic building of the Nara period. In 1998 he was invited to the 50th memorial Munich International Trade Fairs and demonstrated Japanese traditional forging technique and has received several prestigious awards.

 

In reality and in name, he truly is a master of his craft.

​

T H E  A R T  O F  S T E E L

These scissors have layered structures for improved dampening capacity, resulting in an original cutting feel and reduced cutting shock to the hands.

 

It is said that layered steel was first created in India and so highly prized across the Middle East, that the method of blacksmithing layered steel, eventually took the name of the city of Damascus. Swords made from Damascus were brought back to Europe during the Christian Crusades and enjoyed considerable popularity as one of the mysteries of the Orient. Damascus steel can be categorized into two groups, European and Japanese. European Damascus reveals its layers cleanly on a black surface, while the layers in Japanese Damascus steel overlap to form a cloudy appearance. As opposed to a machine-like pattern, the organic and mysterious pattern of our Japanese Damascus scissors reveals the Zen of Japanese beauty. Each scissor has its own "face" and the natural flow of the pattern running from the edge of the blade to the edge of the hand-grip becomes the motif of the Japanese name, THE MIHO.