キリバシ(切箸)とは──輪のない柄の植木鋏、その歴史と特徴|樹木医が図解(Kiribashi: Japanese Garden Shears Without Rings — History and Features)

English: Kiribashi — Japanese Garden Shears Without Rings, Their History and Features

Kiribashi are Japanese garden shears with two plain, rod-like handles and short, pointed blades. With no spring and no finger rings, they take time to master, yet craftsmen have kept using them to cut one chosen twig among crowded tips and in pine work. A Jumokui (tree doctor) explains the history of the name, the shape and how to hold them, with illustrations.

This is a special edition of our series on the pruning techniques of Japanese gardeners (niwashi and uekiya). The ninth article covered ueki-basami and sentei-basami. As a sequel, this one takes up one more pair of shears: the kiribashi I have carried at my hip since my apprenticeship.

What are kiribashi?

Kiribashi are garden shears with no finger rings: you grip two round, rod-like handles. The name is written 切箸, literally “cutting chopsticks”. The blades are short and pointed, and the handles are about twice as long as the blades. There is no spring. Closed, the ends of the two handles meet and the tool forms a long teardrop.

Kiribashi by Sasaoka Hasami Seisakusho. Source: Sasaoka Hasami Seisakusho, Hasamiya, “Ueki-basami Kiribashi”

Kiribashi: short pointed blades, a pivot fastened with a screw, and two round handles without rings.

As examples of size, Sasaoka Hasami Seisakusho in Ino, Kochi Prefecture, makes kiribashi with a 72 mm blade in seven sizes from 180 to 270 mm overall. A retailer lists the Saho 8-sun kiribashi at 248 mm overall, with a 79 mm blade, a 160 mm handle section and a weight of 279 g. In both, the blade is about a third of the length; the rest is handle.

Kiribashi opened. The handles spread into a U and the blades open. There is no spring.

How they differ from ueki-basami and sentei-basami

Japanese gardeners also carry ueki-basami and sentei-basami. Ueki-basami have large ring handles for the fingers, and sentei-basami open by a spring. Kiribashi have neither. You open and close the handles within your hand, and you make the meeting of the blades with your own hand.

Sources: shapes of ueki-basami and sentei-basami from the ninth article of this series; shape of kiribashi from product photos by Sasaoka Hasami Seisakusho and a retailer; opening and best uses from our own work.

Ueki-basami (left), kiribashi (center) and sentei-basami (right). The handles differ, and only sentei-basami have a spring.

A fellow gardener has recorded a regional difference. The head of a landscaping company in Saitama Prefecture, who trained in Kyoto, writes on his blog that craftsmen in the Kanto region always carry ueki-basami (warabide) at the hip, while in Kyoto they work with sentei-basami and a saw, and those who are particular work with only kiribashi and a saw.

The history of the name: kiribashi began as a metalworkers’ word

The word kiribashi appears in records as a metalworkers’ term before it appears in gardening. The Edo-period essay collection Kiyū Shōran (1830) notes that metal craftsmen of the day called a thing like Chinese scissors “kiribashi”. Dictionaries explain this kiribashi as shears for cutting thin sheet metal. The kanakiri-basami (tin snips) still made in Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture, are also called kiribashi.

The character for “chopsticks” also carries a trace of the forge. The tongs a smith uses to hold hot iron were called kanahashi, and the Nipponica encyclopedia notes that the character for scissors originally referred to the smith’s kanahashi. “Hashi” was a name for a tool that grips.

Arranged from the dictionaries, the history of Japanese scissors runs as follows.

Sources: Nipponica, “Hasami”; Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, “Hasami”; Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Kibasami” and “Kiribashi” (all via Kotobank); ARS Corporation, How to Choose Pruning Shears.

Grip scissors with the pivot at the base (left) and shears with the pivot in the middle (right). Kiribashi belong to the latter.

Kiribashi belong to the family of shears with the pivot in the middle. I could not, however, find any record showing whether garden kiribashi grew from the same line as the metal-cutting kiribashi, or simply came to share the name because the shape is similar. To my eye, the way two ringless handles grip a branch does resemble a hand using chopsticks.

How to hold them, and the “gap” at the pivot

Kiribashi are not shears that cut well the moment you pick them up. I hold them with one handle against the palm at the base of the thumb, the other wrapped by the index to ring fingers, and the little finger between the two handles. Squeezing closes the blades; pushing with the little finger opens them.

Holding kiribashi: one handle against the base of the thumb, the other in the index to ring fingers, the little finger between the handles.

The little finger pushes the handles open. With no spring, opening is also the work of your own finger.

The other difficulty is the pivot. As a fellow gardener has recorded, ordinary shears have a pivot closed without play, so the blades meet as soon as you squeeze; kiribashi have a slight gap at the pivot. By the way you apply grip, you press the two blades sideways against each other and bring them together right to the tip. Once your hand learns this, the shears cut lightly to the very tip.

The pivot, enlarged. There is a slight gap, and the way you grip presses the two blades together.

Among Japanese gardeners it is said that it takes two years before you can use kiribashi. Another saying holds that being able to cut a tissue is the sign you have got the hang of it. In my own apprenticeship, too, it took time before they cut as I wanted. Most shears cut well from the day you buy them; these are rare shears that make you wait until your hand has learned them.

Where kiribashi come into their own: finishing branch tips and pines

I use kiribashi mainly in three situations. First, finishing branch tips, cutting crowded twigs one at a time at the end of sukashi (thinning). Second, work on trees with fine buds such as pines and podocarpus. Third, tidying after flowering and work on small garden trees. In each case the job is to slip the tip into crowded leaves and twigs and cut only the one you intend, without touching the branches you keep.

Slipping the tip into crowded branch tips to cut only the chosen twig.

Because the blades are short and pointed, the narrow tip fits into gaps between twigs. That narrow tip is the reason to choose kiribashi.

Tending the branch tips of a trained pine with kiribashi.

Thick, hard branches, on the other hand, are not work for kiribashi. Sasaoka Hasami Seisakusho warns that twisting the blades from side to side can chip them. In our work we change to sentei-basami for hard branches and to a saw for thicker ones. Winter work on pines is covered in momiage on pines.

Care, and the work of the smith

Most kiribashi are forged one at a time by a smith. Sasaoka Hasami Seisakusho was founded in 1970; its founder learned the craft from scissor smiths in Sakai, Osaka, and forges by hand using jiyū tanzō (free forging), the technique of Tosa uchihamono (Tosa forged blades). The Saho kiribashi are described as fire-forged shears with white paper steel forge-welded to soft iron.

Care is the same as for other garden shears. After use, wipe off dirt and sap, oil the blades, and oil the pivot screw. A retailer warns not to sharpen the back of the blade, as that stops it cutting.

They take time for the hand to learn, but since my apprenticeship I have carried them at my hip for finishing branch tips and for pine work. For me, kiribashi are the shears that stand closest to the Japanese way of pruning: choosing one twig at a branch tip and cutting it.

How they compare with shears abroad — for readers outside Japan

The hand shears recommended in English-language gardening guides are mainly bypass hand pruners that open by a spring. As far as I know, there is no garden tool in the English-speaking world that matches kiribashi, with ringless, springless handles and a narrow tip that slips between twigs. The closest in shape are in fact tin snips, which cut sheet metal; and in Japanese, another name for tin snips is kiribashi.

Japanese pruning shapes a tree by choosing and removing single twigs at the branch tips (sukashi pruning). In my view, kiribashi are shears made for that work, with the fineness of the tip put first.

Frequently Asked Questions (Q&A)

Q1. What are kiribashi?

A. Garden shears with no finger rings, held by two round, rod-like handles. The blades are short and pointed, and there is no spring. They are used to cut one chosen twig among crowded branch tips and in pine work.

Q2. How do kiribashi differ from ueki-basami (warabide)?

A. Ueki-basami are opened and closed with the fingers in large ring handles; kiribashi have no rings. You grip the handles with the palm and fingers and push them open with the little finger placed between them. Neither has a spring.

Q3. Where does the name kiribashi come from?

A. The Edo-period essay collection Kiyū Shōran (1830) records metal craftsmen calling shears “kiribashi”, and it is still another name for tin snips. The tongs a smith uses to grip things were called kanahashi. No record has been found linking these to garden kiribashi.

Q4. Can you use kiribashi straight away?

A. Among Japanese gardeners it is said to take two years. There is a slight gap at the pivot, and you cut by pressing the two blades together through the way you grip. Being able to cut a tissue is taken as the sign you have got used to them.

Q5. Can kiribashi cut thick branches?

A. They are not suited to it. Twisting the blades can chip them. Use kiribashi on thin branch tips, change to sentei-basami for hard branches and to a saw for thicker ones.

Sources

– Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Kiribashi” (example from Kiyū Shōran, 1830); Encyclopedia of Japanese Regional Brands, “Kiribashi”.
– Nihon Kokugo Daijiten and Daijisen, “Kanahashi”.
– Nipponica and Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, “Hasami”.
– Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Kibasami” (example from Tokitsune-kyō-ki, 1579).
– Sasaoka Hasami Seisakusho, Hasamiya: “Ueki-basami Kiribashi” and company information (Japanese).
– Honmamon: “Saho Kiribashi for Garden Trees, 8 sun” (Japanese).
– ARS Corporation. How to Choose Pruning Shears (Japanese).
– Zoen Arai, Takashi Arai. “Tools of the Landscaper: Shears” (blog, 17 December 2015, Japanese).
– play green, Takeshi. “Starting to Use Kiribashi” (blog, 20 March 2014, Japanese).

Masatoshi Nakamura
Jumokui (Tree Doctor), Toshi Landscape Co., Ltd., Tokyo