Incredibly strong, lethally sharp, surprisingly light - and golden.

What more could one ask of a spade? Ideal for general purpose digging, tree planting, rootballing and mixing cement etc.

With a comfortable YD handle of tubular steel, firm tread and rigid steel pipe shaft, but weighing in at only 1.75kg you can rely on this spade not to flex or break under heavy use.

As the paint wears off, the steel will gradually start to rust. Regular use is the best treatment!

NB: To avoid waste, shovels and spades are shipped in their original box which features a drawing of the item contained therein.

• 1.75kg
• 972 x 228 x 34mm
• Steel
• Made in Japan

1997. Jake goes to Japan as a wannabe sculptor, to investigate the cultural phenomenon of the cherry blossom season, hanami. There he discovers the gardens, and the trees, and vows to learn more.

Back home in England, he trains as a TEFL teacher, meets Keiko, and drags her back to Japan. Year one is spent teaching, year two working at a traditional plant nursey in a rural part of Osaka, learning all about tree training, pruning and rootballing.

Back home again, Jake gets work at Architectural Plants in Sussex, where he is shocked to find people using FOUR LEGGED LADDERS (Can you imagine?) Brother-in-law Haruyasu is enrolled to ship over a couple of tripod ladders (still going strong today) which together with the robust secateurs and topiary clippers Jake insists on using, cause quite a stir.

And so begins the business.

What everyone starts to appreciate is that although these things are all Japanese, they work just as well in western gardens, and on a whole range of plants. Tripod ladders, it turns out, are just as useful for hedge trimming as they are for pine pruning; and of course topiary clippers work just as well on box topiary as they do on azalea karikomi.

You don’t need to grow bonsai to enjoy these tools.