Yoshioka YO-204 – Japanese Uekibasami with 120 mm Aogami blades
The Yoshioka YO-204 are traditional Japanese uekibasami designed for precise pruning, foliage trimming and shaping work.
Made in Japan by Yoshioka Hamono, these professional Japanese garden shears feature 120 mm blades, a size regarded by the manufacturer as a standard choice for foliage trimming. Compared with the more compact YO-203 and its 90 mm blades, the YO-204 provides greater reach and allows longer, flowing cuts while retaining the control characteristic of traditional uekibasami.
Yasugi Aogami – Japanese Blue Paper Steel
The blades are forged from Yasugi Aogami (Blue Paper Steel), a high-quality Japanese carbon steel prized by Japanese toolmakers for its hardness, fine cutting edge and excellent edge retention.
Properly sharpened and maintained, Aogami allows the YO-204 to deliver the clean, precise cut expected from professional Japanese garden shears.
As with any high-carbon steel, the blades should be cleaned and dried after use and lightly oiled when necessary to protect them from corrosion.
Urasuki: traditional Japanese blade geometry
The inner faces of the blades feature urasuki, the characteristic slight hollow found on many high-quality Japanese cutting tools.
This geometry limits unnecessary contact between the two blades while allowing their cutting edges to meet precisely as the shears close. It helps reduce friction and contributes to the smooth, controlled cutting action of the uekibasami.
A screw-mounted pivot designed for maintenance
The YO-204 uses a 7 mm screw pivot with a locking nut.
Unlike permanently riveted garden shears, this construction allows the tool to be dismantled when required for thorough cleaning, sharpening and adjustment. It is a particularly valuable feature on a professional tool intended to be maintained rather than replaced.
A classic tool for Japanese garden pruning
With their long 120 mm blades and traditional loop handles, the YO-204 are particularly suited to foliage trimming, shrub shaping and precise garden maintenance.
The wide handles allow the hand to move naturally and provide excellent control over the blades, making these uekibasami equally at home in Japanese garden maintenance and demanding everyday pruning work.
A traditional tool with no unnecessary mechanisms: steel, geometry and precise blade adjustment do the work.
Technical specifications
- Manufacturer: Yoshioka Hamono
- Brand: Hasami Masamune
- Reference: YO-204 / No. 204
- Type: Japanese uekibasami / garden shears
- Blade length: 120 mm (from the centre of the pivot screw to the tip)
- Steel: Yasugi Aogami (Blue Paper Steel)
- Blade geometry: urasuki
- Pivot: 7 mm screw
- Locking nut
- Dismountable for maintenance and sharpening
- Total length: approx. 250 mm
- Made in Japan
