is a hori-hori, a Japanese gardening knife. They’re great and I think they’re within 4 years of breaking through – already within gardening scenes you see knockoffs – so let me fill you in.
A hori-hori is used for weeding. Unlike the garden trowels I was familiar with it doesn’t work by forcing its way down and scooping up the root, instead you plunge it into the soil to sever the deep attachment and your other hand pulls the weed up by the above-ground part, which feels like an order of magnitude easier.
The one in the picture is like what I’ve found to be good - a heavy, thick straight blade with a straight tang one side serrated (for root-sawing). The ones I got the blade was blacked at the start but that wore off, musta been style.
I see ones with leaf-shaped blades and I dunno, especially how those often incorporate like line cutters by the hilt, seem a little tacticooled out.
Distrust the ones that have depth in inches marked along the blade.
Distrust the ones that have narrower blades than that and especially the ones that have aluminum thinner and call themselves “hori-hori"s
Oh though, here’s something. Hold the hori-hori out in front of you, in the hand you’ll use it with, point up, with the slightly concave side of the blade towards you. The serration should be on the edge away from your core.
(I’m only holding it in the left hand in that pic so I could take the photo with my right, dominant hand)
If the serrations are toward you it can help a bit to cut through grass roots as you pull towards you cutting out a disc of turf, but IMO it’s way too easy to have your fingers too close pressing down as you pull the blade out of the soil and saw them open on the way.
