Dig, Dig

This is my new Hori Hori garden knife. Hori Hori  means Dig Dig in Japanese, not to be confused with Hari Kari. I ordered it from the Duluth Trading Company catalog, known for their heavy work clothes and tool pails.

The knife cost about $30, which seemed expensive until it arrived and realized  this was a serious Japanese tool.  When I brandished it John looked alarmed and said in a grim voice, "Be careful." He knows a real knife when he sees one. It has a serrated and a plain edge with a deadly-looking point. It is very sharp.  I have a couple of cheap, rusty garden knives I've been abusing for years, but I'll have to treat this one with the respect it deserves.

Hori Hori knives are useful for rough jobs, like dividing perennials, sawing through root balls and whacking dead plants off in the fall. In Japan they use them for more dainty chores like digging out hundred year old tree specimens to make bonsai.

It comes with a belt sheath so you can look like a guerrilla while you work in the garden. In fact, I just read that Japanese farmers in the 16th century needed garden tools that could double as weapons. I'm glad the Shogun days are over.

Speaking of Japan, you may have heard on the national news that debris from the April 2011 tsunami is reaching our coast. I wonder if anything will make it's way into Puget Sound and wash up on Alki?  It's fascinating and grim to think of people's everyday stuff floating across the ocean for over an year, just to become beach trash on the other side of the world.