Pocket-knife

Higonokami 肥後守

A Higonokami is a folding pocket knife originating in Miki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan in 1896. When the name "Higonokami" was trademarked in 1910 there were 40 families making the pocketknives.  Now there is only one manufacturer, Nagao Kanekoma Factory, which is legally allowed to call its knives "Higonokami". For over 100 years the family factory has made knives and is currently managed by the fifth generation blacksmith Mitsuo Nagao.