This Japanese Gardening Tool Has A Supremely Devoted Following
When interviewing landscapers for a recent story on lawns, both Kat Aul Cervoni, founder of Staghorn NYC Landscape Design and The Cultivation by Kat and Patrick Farrell, partner at EAS Landscaping LLC in Philadelphia sang the praises of this soil knife. Farrell even deemed it 'indispensable when it comes to planting and clearing.' Because the story focused on grass, the knife wasn't featured, but when a HuffPost reader recommended it in a Facebook callout, we knew it deserved more attention.
Answering an ask for accessible gardening tools for people over 50, long-term gardener Sue Mazer, 54, suggested this comfortable-to-hold, multi-use tool, saying, 'Lightly spray mist the mixed soil and use a Japanese [hori-hori] garden knife to make individual holes for the seeds, seedlings or transplants.'
W hile there are many brands and styles of hori hori-style knives, we (and most of Amazon) like this classic option made by the Japanese brand Nisaku. Made in Japan, weighing 10 ounces, it's light in your hand with a 7.25-inch blade and 5.25-inch handle that gives you leverage and control. Featuring one serrated side and one straight edge, it's a knife-of-all-trades kind of tool that will easily earn its spot in your garden tool rotation. The handy inch markers on the blade help you drop seeds at the correct depth, and the unique shape lets you do everything from chop branches to plant bulbs. You can even bring it hunting or camping. The blade is rust- and scratch-resistant, keeping its sharpness and shape for years to come.
With a 4.8-star rating and over 7,000 5-star reviews, it seems everyone who has a hori hori recommends it. Reviewer Sally Cloud wrote, 'Where has this thing been in my over 30 years of gardening life?!!!' — calling it her favorite garden tool of all time and something you won't regret buying. Reviewer M called the hori hori the 'most versatile garden tool ever,' saying, 'I never realized I needed a tool like this until I used it. This garden knife is so lightweight and versatile. I use it for small garden tasks like digging out small weeds and cutting vines. When planting, the measurements on the side of the long blade help me to know the depth to which I'm digging. This is helpful when planting seeds. The blade is sharp, easy to clean, and has its own sheath. Highly recommend this product!'
Promising reviews:
amazon.com, amazon.com
"After researching and seeing the HoriHori knife in many of the best garden tool list articles and videos, I decided to buy one, and OMG! This should've been my first garden tool purchase. I've used this to do some planting in pots, clean up some weeds in the front flower bed, and do some plant transplanting in the yard, and not once did I need my hand shovels! This was sharp enough to cut and made digging a breeze. Highly recommend and make this your first garden tool purchase." — fivetwo beauty
"This looked like an interesting garden tool, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. It is a little beast when it comes to cutting through things like grass roots and thatch, and for breaking ground! Got one for my mom too!" — Sue
"I love the many uses for this gardening knife. I used it to trim back thick vines in my vegetable garden. It made digging up my herbs and flowers possible yesterday, with nearly frozen ground. My trowel was useless. After each use, I clean off the dirt and apply mineral oil and it looks like new. The scabbard is a bonus as well as necessary because of the sharpness of the blade. The price was more than reasonable for such a quality product." — Lynn D.
"I use a lot of hand tools in the yard and garden. This is officially my favorite. It has so many functions and use is simple and easy! Perfect blade size to remove whole plants. It's got a great handle, and you get a firm grip! The blade cuts, saws, allows you to gauge depth, and pushes easily into the soil! You will love this tool!" — WM
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Tom's Guide
3 days ago
- Tom's Guide
Don't make this mistake — 5 plants you should never grow near your house, and why
Plants and shrubs add a beautiful accent to any home, and can form a stunning backdrop to set off a property. However, before choosing any plant that you take a particular fancy to, if you are growing trees and plants near your home, you need to be particularly careful what you choose. I made a big mistake when I planted an eucalyptus in my backyard, as it grew far bigger than I was expecting, and subsequently it had to be dug up. It would have been an even bigger disaster if it had been planted close to my house. So, when you're adding plants next to your property, you need to give careful consideration to what you select. How big will it grow? Will the roots damage the foundations of your home and plumbing, or will they lift up paths and driveways? Will the plant damage masonry, guttering, or roofing? My intention isn't to take the joy out of brightening up your surroundings with plants, but to warn you of the dangers of putting the wrong plant in the wrong place. To help you avoid making a planting mistake, I've gathered five of the worst culprits that you should never plant next to your home. English ivy is an invasive climber that can quickly take over your home by working its way into small cracks and crevices in your walls, ultimately damaging the structure of your home. If grown against walls, ivy will trap in moisture, increasing the likelihood of mold growth — another major issue you'll want to avoid. What's more, if you try to remove ivy, the vines will work against you, and they will cling to your siding, causing damage as you pull. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Trumpet vine is an attractive deciduous, woody climber with orange and scarlet blooms, and it will attract hummingbirds to your yard. However, although it will add a splash of color to your home and attract the birds and the bees, it likes to cling. The USDA states it's an invasive weed and 'if not controlled, rampant growth will become a problem'. It advises thinning it throughout the growing season and cutting it back in winter to prevent aggressive spread. But apart from its fast growth, it shoots out aerial roots, which cling onto walls, helping it climb. It also self-seeds, sending out unwanted new plants where you hadn't intended. Wisteria's blooms make a beautiful display when they adorn the front of houses. But, before you plant this vine, consider the pitfalls. Once in full flourish, the heavy vines wrap around trellis, rails, and gutters, and will cause damage to your home. Non-native varieties, such as Chinese and Japanese wisteria, are recognised as nuisance plants in many states, and can grow up to 60 feet a year, making them tough plants to manage. However, the wisteria native to the U.S., Wisteria futescens, is a bit less aggressive, although it can still grow up to 30 feet tall a year, and its roots can cause serious damage if planted next to your house. I have the good fortune of being able to admire a neighbor's wisteria without the work involved in keeping one tame. But if you do decide to plant a wisteria next to your house, make sure to prune it regularly to ensure it doesn't get out of hand. These high-quality, Swiss-made pruners have a hardened steel blade capable of cutting 0.8 inches of material. The smooth, red handle is ergonomically designed to provide comfort while cutting. These pruners are ideal for medium-sized hands. Arborvitae is often chosen as an evergreen hedge to provide privacy, as its dense, compact growth provides an ideal screen. However, although it's a fast grower and may seem the perfect choice if you're looking for a quick hedge, it keeps on growing. The 'Green Giant' can grow three feet in a year and can reach 50-60ft when mature, with a 12-20ft span. So, unless you prune your tree regularly, it will soon become an unmanageable monster on your doorstep. But, unlike other trees, it only has shallow roots, so it's unlikely to damage your foundations or surrounding pipe work. However, it's best to keep it a safe distance from your home to prevent the risk of branches growing into structures. Bamboo can add a touch of intrigue to frame your home, and I grow one in a container to add privacy. However, when planted in the ground without the root restriction of a pot, it can become overgrown. One Tree Planted states that according to Guinness World Records, the fastest-growing species of bamboo can grow up to 35 inches in a day. There are two types of bamboo, with one being more invasive than the other. If you pick running bamboo, the rhizomes grow horizontally and can spread in cracks and crevices, causing damage to your foundations, floors, and plumbing. However, the rhizomes of clumping bamboo grow vertically and aren't invasive.
New York Times
4 days ago
- New York Times
‘This Was a Revelation in Cooking Eggplant'
Good morning! Today we have for you: A reader-favorite (and me-favorite) eggplant dish A tomato salad for that nice tinned fish you picked up Plus, strawberry and sesame swirl soft serve 'This was a revelation in cooking eggplant' By Mia Leimkuhler It's hit that time of the summer when, if I'm at the farmers' market and standing in front of a table heaped high with baskets of eggplant, I must tell myself the same thing my mom told me in front of the supermarket candy display: just one. If I don't, I run the risk of bringing home too much eggplant. The shiny, almost black Italian eggplant. The lavender-smudged Rosa Bianca eggplant, as bulbous and knuckly as the heirloom tomatoes. The long, slim Chinese and Japanese eggplants, the adorable fairytale eggplant. I want all the eggplants, but they won't all fit in my bike panniers (of course I've tried). So this week it'll just be some Japanese eggplant for Sue Li's five-star sweet and sour eggplant with garlic chips. (I've also made this with larger eggplant varieties; just cut them into slenderish batons.) If you're not so into eggplant — or you're cooking for the eggplant-avoidant — this recipe is a great place to start your eggplant journey. Any lingering bitterness is completely canceled out by the pungent garlic oil and the assertive soy-vinegar sauce that's sweetened with brown sugar. And the garlic chips (the tasty result of that garlic oil) add a solid crunch to counter the eggplant's melting softness. I usually eat this dish with rice and a fried egg, but it's occurring to me now that, for a really nice dinner, I could serve it as a side to a roast duck I pick up from an Asian grocer. Oh, or a plate of pan-fried dumplings, also snagged from said grocer. Maybe some cold, fresh tofu? More reasons to leave room in the panniers. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
UPI
4 days ago
- UPI
Japanese tea ceremony master Sen Genshitsu dies at 102
Japanese tea ceremony grand master Sen Genshitsu died at the age of 102. File Photo by Wallace Woon/EPA Aug. 14 (UPI) -- A grand master of Ursanke, a Japanese tea ceremony school, Sen Genshitsu died on Thursday. He was 102 years old. Genshitsu became the grand master in 1964 and received the Japanese Order of Culture in 1997 for his modernization of the traditional tea ceremony. His philosophy was "peacefulness through a bowl of tea" which he shared as he traveled overseas to promote Japanese culture at universities across the world. Genshitsu was recruited into the Japanese Navy during World War II to be a kamikaze pilot. He passed on the title of grandmaster to his son in 2002. Notable deaths of 2025 Astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission to the moon, died August 8, 2025, in Illinois, his family announced. He was 97. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo
