Tosa Uchi-hamono Axes, Sickles
and Other Forestry Tools

The World's Best Forged Axes, Hatchets and Forestry Tools

Ten years ago, while living in Japan, I made a week-long road trip to the Island of Shikoku, which is the eastern-most of the four main islands of Japan. Within the island of Shikoku is Kochi Prefecture, and therein is a small town well known throughout all of Japan for the highest performance forestry tools: Tosa Yamada. Even today, after all the modernization that has overwhelmed Japan, the bladesmiths in Tosa Yamada still honor the time-proven traditions and techniques used for several hundred years to forge the best quality heavy blades.

I was attracted to the bladesmiths of this area because of their legendary axes, hatchets and other unique forestry tools. Even though I am a competent bladesmith, the axesmith is as specialized from the kitchen bladesmith as the orthopedic surgeon is from the neurosurgeon. Despite a good understanding of what the axesmith does, it would literally take me thousands of axes before I could forge even one half as decent as the best axesmiths in Tosa Yamada. So I investigated the possibility of representing their best work as their North American dealer.

During this past trip to Japan, I flew to Kochi and then drove to Tosa Yamada to specifically meet with the best axesmiths, and with their encouragement, purchased and brought back some of the best of the best blades they had to offer. I personally inspected each blade and only chose the best examples of the lot. Folks, these are, bar none, the sharpest blades of this kind you will ever encounter. Keep tuned for several new YouTube clips where I will share with you many of the attributes of these wonderful blades. The best news of all is that just as with the Shozaburo scissors, I am very experienced at servicing, sharpening and refurbishing these Tosa Yamada blades. Customers will never have to worry about complete after-sales servicing with these tools.

Forget about "The Last Samurai" -- THIS IS FOR REAL!

While in Tosa Yamada, after several hours of talking and consulting over a cup of Japanese tea, the president of the axesmith's association suddenly asked me if I wanted to see "katana" (samurai sword). Now, let me tell you that in the Japanese language, there is no distinction between singular and plural. So my thought was, "OK, he is going to show me one sword, and it will take five minutes." As a matter of fact, as I was there for serious business that had nothing to do with swords, and with time constraints, I wasn't too interested in the offer. However, it would have been rude to say "No," so I followed him a short distance away to his house. As we entered his house, I was taking notice of how ornate the construction was, and that is obviously a very expensive house by Japanese standards. The details of the woodwork were fascinating.

In one corner of the tatami room we entered was a vaguely familiar sight. There appeared to be a steel gun safe, but it was on its side. I quickly realized that it was a sword safe. I couldn't have prepared myself for what was to come -- a two-hour showing of some of the most rare and exquisite swords in the entire world. We looked at swords as old as 750 years, with steel textures and colors rarely seen today.

Sitting seiza-style (on one's knees, the only appropriate posture for the occasion), I was invited to comment on each sword. I couldn't critique credibly as an official "appraiser," but did pass my honest comments from the perspective of one who has forged more than 14,000 Japanese blades. I was surprised to get an overwhelmingly favorable reaction. The president said, "Carter-san, you know more about these swords than any of the members of the Nihonto Bijutsu Hozon Kyokai (Japanese Art Sword Preservation Society). Those guys are well studied and can pass intellectual assessment, but really don't know about metallurgy the way a bladesmith understands it."

I was so highly honored by this guy, I was truly embarrassed. We just lost ourselves in the moment, looking at one beautiful sword after another. Time seemed to stand still, until there were no more swords to pull out of the safe. What I originally thought was going to be an inconvenience to my tight schedule turned out to be the highlight of the whole trip to Japan.

We are pleased to be the sole North American distributors of the finest Japanese axes, hatchets, sickles and other forestry tools in the world. Here are the Tosa Uchi-hamono products that we offer:

ONO - Axes

KAMA - Sickles

NATA - Limb Cutters

KANAYA - Steel Wedges

TOCHIKAN - Logging Spikes (Ring Dogs)

All these products may be purchased by going to our Imported Forestry Tools page.

See also Tosa Uchihamono's color catalog in PDF format for all of their fine craftsmanship.