Tailor’s Shears
Raxa Scissors (Tailor’s Scissors)
Raxa (a term borrowed from Portuguese) is a thick, smooth cloth made from wool and was commonly used for clothing because of its durability and high heat retention. This material proved too tough to cut with regular Japanese scissors, so special raxa scissors were imported to Japan. At first the imported scissors were large and cumbersome, so eventually Japanese blacksmiths developed scissors fit for Japanese, which then became the prototype for the modern tailor’s scissors.
