knives usually get all the glory.

But in the city of Sakai,

where blacksmithing goes back to the making

of samurai swords in the 14th century,

one craftsman has built a legacy

on something a little different.

Scissors to split paper, food, and, of course, Bonsai trees.

This is Yasuhiro Hirakawa, who works under the brand Sasuke.

- [Narrator] Hirakawa is a fifth generation scissor maker,

and he has been doing it for half a century.

He is the only traditional scissor craftsman

left in all of Japan.

- [Narrator] It takes Hirakawa a week or longer,

working 10 hours a day, to make a pair of scissors-

three to four times as long as making a knife;

and that effort is reflected in the price.

(hammering)

- [Narrator] But what are you gonna do

with scissors that expensive?

To answer that,

here's Masakazu Yoshikawa, a craftsman of Bonsai.

(cheerful orchestral music)

For a master like Yoshikawa,

a key in crafting perfect Bonsai,

is the perfect pair of scissors.

(hammering)

(snipping)

(hammering)

- [Narrator] And Yoshikawa still remembers

his first pair of Sasuke scissors.

(hammering)

- [Narrator] But for Hirakawa,

he's only just gotten started.

(hammering)