History
Origin of Saga Blades
The roots of Saga cutlery can be traced back as far as the Keicho era. At that time, Hizen was ruled by the Nabeshima clan based in Saga County.
As the official sword smith of the clan, numerous master swordsmiths from Tadakichi I to Tadakichi Shinsaemon VIII were active, preserving the excellent tradition of Hizen swords and laying the foundation for the history of Saga blades, which boast a high level of precision.
In particular, the skill and technique of Tadayoshi I as a master swordsmith were widely known to the public, and he produced many famous students, including Yukihiro, Masahiro, and Tadakuni.
The descendants and pupils of these outstanding students passed on their advanced skills to the present-day Saga cutlery, which is renowned for the quality of its sickles and knives.
Global Expansion
Yoshida Cutlery has established a manufacturing plant in China and has operated two manufacturing lines, one in Japan and the other in China.
In recent years, Japanese knives have been highly evaluated overseas, and we have been challenging to produce kitchen knives mainly in Europe.
We are making efforts to sell knives by exhibiting at overseas trade fairs and cooperating with sales agents. Currently, we are exporting mainly kitchen knives, but we would like to distribute gardening knives to Southeast Asia and Western Europe, which are pioneer areas for gardening and agriculture.
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1940
Seiji Yoshida I of Ogi City, Saga Prefecture, apprentices himself to a Yanagawa Domain sword smith.
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1946
Began manufacturing agricultural cutlery in Ogi City, Saga Prefecture.
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1977
Factory relocated to Taku City, Saga Prefecture, for the introduction of large machinery.
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1981
From a sole proprietorship to a legal entity.
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1982
Expanded the machine knife factory and introduced a state-of-the-art atmosphere furnace.
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1989
Established a joint venture company (Changzhou Zhongji Tool Co., Ltd.) in China.
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1989
Established a new factory for the Machine Cutlery Division to expand production of machine knives.
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1991
Nissho Research ranked No. 1 in Japan in terms of market share of torsion sickles with steel.
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2001
Reorganization of Chinese joint venture into a wholly owned subsidiary.
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2005
Converted a Chinese joint venture into a wholly owned subsidiary.
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2006
New factory in China (Changzhou Jusaji Tool Co., Ltd.) was established.
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2012
Constructed a new plant in China and relocated.