Seki City and the Heritage of Japanese Scissor Making
How a small city in Gifu Prefecture became the global capital of hairdressing scissors, and why its 1,200-year bladesmithing tradition still shapes every tool you pick up.
Why Seki City matters to you
Every time you open a pair of Japanese shears, there is a good chance they were born in Seki City (関市), a place most stylists have never heard of. This small city in Gifu Prefecture, about an hour north of Nagoya, produces roughly 99% of Japan’s hairdressing scissors. If you own Japanese shears, the steel was almost certainly shaped, ground, and assembled within a few square kilometres of the Seki river valley.
This guide covers how that happened, what makes Seki production different from anywhere else, and what it means for the scissors sitting in your holster right now.
Twelve centuries of blades
Seki’s bladesmithing history stretches back over 1,200 years. The city’s reputation began with swordmaking during the Kamakura period (1185 to 1333), when swordsmiths settled along the Seki river because the area offered three things they needed: high quality clay for forging, pine charcoal for fuel, and clean water for quenching blades.
By the late medieval period, Seki blades had earned a reputation across Japan. The swordsmiths of Seki were known for producing blades that held their edge under hard use, a trait that traced directly to local materials and techniques passed from master to apprentice.
When the samurai era ended and sword demand collapsed, Seki’s smiths pivoted. They moved into kitchen knives, razors, and eventually scissors. The city’s cutlery industry grew through the 20th century, and by the postwar boom in Japanese hairdressing, Seki had become the undisputed centre of scissor production. Today the city’s scissor and cutlery output is valued at around 12.45 billion yen annually.
The bungyosei system
What makes Seki truly unusual is how scissors get made there. Most Western manufacturing puts one product through a single factory line. Seki operates on a system called bungyosei (分業制), which translates roughly as “division of labour by specialisation.”
Under bungyosei, each stage of scissor production is handled by a different specialist workshop. One shop forges the blanks. Another grinds the blades. A separate artisan sets the ride (how the two blades interact). Yet another handles final sharpening. The finished scissor may pass through five or six independent specialists before it reaches a box.
This is not an assembly line. Each specialist has spent years, sometimes decades, mastering one narrow part of the process. A grinder grinds. A sharpener sharpens. They do not switch roles. The result is a level of precision at each stage that would be difficult to replicate in a vertically integrated factory.
The bungyosei system also means that two different scissor brands might share some of the same specialist workshops. Brand A and Brand B might use the same forging shop but different grinders and different sharpeners. This is why you sometimes hear that certain Japanese brands feel similar in the hand. They may literally share some of their DNA.
Who makes scissors in Seki
Several of the most respected names in professional hairdressing scissors are based in Seki City or the surrounding area.
Mizutani Scissors has operated from Seki since 1921 and is known for producing premium shears using proprietary steel formulations. Kasho, the professional scissors division of the KAI Group, manufactures from Seki and distributes globally. Joewell (Tokosha Manufacturing) has been producing from the region since 1917 and is one of the oldest continously operating scissor makers in the world. Hikari Scissors, Yasaka, and numerous smaller makers also call the city home.
Each of these companies operates within the broader Seki ecosystem. Even the larger firms rely on the specialist network for certain production stages, though the biggest manufacturers have brought more steps in house over the decades.
It is worth noting that “made in Seki” does not automatically mean a scissor is high end. The city produces scissors across every price point, from student models under 10,000 yen to competition shears costing ten times that. The Seki name tells you about heritage and infrastructure. It does not tell you about the specific grade of steel or the level of finishing on a particular model.
The hamaguri sharpening tradition
One of the most important technical traditions to come out of Seki is the hamaguri (蛤刃) blade grind, sometimes called the clamshell grind because the blade’s cross section resembles the curved surface of a clamshell.
Hamaguri grinding creates a gently convex blade face rather than a flat one. This convex geometry does two things. First, it makes the cutting edge more durable because there is more steel supporting the edge itself. Second, it allows the blade to push hair away from the flat side slightly during a cut, which reduces the “grabbing” sensation that flat ground blades can produce.
Hamaguri blades are shaped on water-cooled stones by hand. The sharpener applies varying pressure across the blade surface to build up the convex profile gradually. A skilled hamaguri sharpener works through as many as seven different grinding angles to achieve the final shape. This is slow work and it cannot be fully automated.
This tradition connects directly to Seki’s swordmaking past. Japanese swords were ground using similar convex geometry, and the technique was adapted for scissors as the industry evolved. When you hear a Seki manufacturer talk about their sharpening process, they are usually describing some version of hamaguri, even if they do not always use the term.
There is an important practical consequence here. If your scissors were ground using hamaguri techniques, they need to be resharpened using the same approach. Sending a hamaguri blade to a sharpener who only uses European belt grinding methods (the Konvex-Schliff system) can permanently alter the blade geometry. More on this in our guide to hamaguri vs. konvex sharpening.
The Seki Cutlery Hall
If you ever visit Japan and want to see this world firsthand, the Seki Traditional Swordsmith Museum and the Seki Cutlery Hall (関の刃物会館, Seki no Hamono Kaikan) are open to visitors. The Cutlery Hall displays the full range of Seki production, from kitchen knives to surgical instruments to hairdressing scissors. You can watch craftspeople demonstrate forging and grinding techniques, and the attached shop sells products direct from local manufacturers.
Seki also hosts an annual Cutlery Festival (刃物まつり, Hamono Matsuri) every October, which draws tens of thousands of visitors. Several scissor manufacturers open their facilities during the festival, offering a rare look inside working production shops.
For international visitors, the city is accessible via Nagoya. Take the Meitetsu line or drive about 50 minutes north. English signage inside the museums is limited, but the physical demonstrations are worth the trip regardless.
What this means when you buy scissors
Understanding Seki’s role changes how you evaluate a purchase. Here are the practical takeaways.
“Made in Japan” is not enough information. Ask whether the scissors were made in Seki, and if so, which stages of production were handled locally. Some brands import rough blanks from other countries and finish them in Seki. Others complete every stage within the city. Both can legitimately say “made in Japan,” but they represent very different products.
The bungyosei system means specialists matter. A scissor’s quality depends on the weakest link in its chain of specialists. A brilliant forging job can be undermined by mediocre finishing. When a brand talks about their production process, listen for whether they name specific stages and who handles them.
Hamaguri blades need hamaguri sharpening. If your scissors were made in Seki using traditional grinding methods, find a sharpener who understands that system. Ask directly: “Do you sharpen using water stones and hamaguri technique, or belt grinding?” The wrong answer can cost you a good pair of shears.
Heritage is not a quality guarantee. Seki’s history is remarkable, but it does not mean every scissor from the city is superior to every scissor made elsewhere. German manufacturers like Tondeo and Jaguar produce excellent shears using completely different methods. What Seki offers is a specific tradition, a specific set of techniques, and a depth of specialisation that is genuinely unique. Whether that tradition produces the right scissor for your hands and your technique is a separate question.