Japanese Hand Mattock (Makoto Mattock)

A Light and Narrow Japanese Hand Mattock for Digging, Planting, and Working the Soil

To complement our our Red Pig Garden Tools hand forged tools, which are made in small batches in our workshop in Oregon, we also carry lighter duty, high quality tools made in Japan. New to the line up in 2023 is this Japanese hand mattock. It has a narrow, flat blade capable of digging deep into established beds. We have begun testing it in our own garden and so far find it great for working through soils that have become a bit clumpy or have been overtaken by volunteers (in our case, mustards and other greens that seem to grow back no matter what we replace them with each year).

We could see using this mattock for some weeding, planting and cultivating but think it is at its best when you want a light weight tool to chop into small areas.