This Japanese Gardening Tool Has A Supremely Devoted Following

Buzz Feed

04-05-2025

After hearing about this $19 tool from professional landscapers and avid home gardeners, we knew we needed to write about it. Meet the hori hori — a multipurpose, slightly concave Japanese weed knife with a serrated blade on one side. It helps you dig, weed, remove roots, transfer plants, cut sod and divide perennials — and barely takes up space in your kit.
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