MATSUZAKIマツザキ

Founded in 1898, Matsuzaki is among the oldest names in Japanese scissor making, and the dates alone tell the story. Terukazu Matsuzaki started the business in Tokyo in Meiji 31, making medical and surgical instruments before turning to hairdressing shears. More than 125 years later it is still in the founding family, now in its third generation, which puts it in the very small club of shear makers with genuine multi-generational heritage rather than a borrowed origin myth.

The Matteck name

Today the company trades as Matteck Matsuzaki Co., Ltd., and the odd-looking “Matteck” is not random branding. It is formed from the initials of the three presidents across the family’s three generations, a quiet way of stamping the lineage onto the corporate name. Head office and factory share a building in Nerima-ku, Tokyo.

Made in-house

That combined office and factory is the detail that matters most. Matsuzaki forges its own shears under its own roof, which gives it tight batch-to-batch control and a short loop between the people grinding the blades and the stylists using them. Production is small-batch with hand-finishing, and the pricing reflects it, sitting in the premium band of roughly 400 to 800 dollars.

The range

The catalogue is broad: cutting shears, thinning and texturising models, and left-handed pairs, with named lines from the Black Titanium and Mantis to the MWQ swivel and the J Rough. The technique list is long, covering blunt, slide, point, and stroke cutting, dry work, volume control from 10 to 50 percent, texture control, and combined cut-and-thinning, the kind of depth you expect from a maker that has had over a century to refine it.

In the US, Matsuzaki sells through Precision Shears, Stay Sharp, Shear World, and TriCut; the brand’s own site is matsuzaki.jp, where the current model specs and steel details live. More from the country in our Japan hub.