Seki City, located in the middle basin of the Nagara River, is regarded as one of the world’s three major cutlery centers (along with Solingen in Germany and Sheffield in the UK).
In the 1300's, famous swordsmith Motoshige set up shop in Seki after deeming the area an ideal place to create swords thanks to the bounty of the surrounding nature that provided all the raw materials needed to create swords. After this Seki soon became established as a center for blades and its reputation was widespread among samurai warriors who said that Seki blades ""never break or bend and are incredibly sharp.”
Presently there are around 100 blade manufacturers, in addition to 10 active swordsmiths, that make a wide range of products from kitchen and hunting knives to finger nail clippers and hairstyling tools.
The secret behind the international success of the blade industry here in Seki lies in its roots as a sword-production center; manufactures have harnessed the ancient knowledge and techniques of Japanese swordsmiths and are able to combine it with modern day technology to create high-quality cutlery and blades.
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