Japan’s leading maker of joke knives with retractable blades ends production

09:13 cherishe 0 Comments

A blow to fans of consequence-free stabbing.

Regardless of what country you grew up in, you probably have memories of those toy knives that look rather realistic, but actually have a dull plastic blade that sinks back into the handle when pressed, giving the illusion of stabbing someone or something.

Japan too has these toys which were usually sold at old-school candy shops or festivals, and for the longest time if you were to get one, chances were that it was a Magic Mahoto (“Magic Magic Blade”) made by Horishoten in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture.

Since 1950, this company has been making a wide range of novelty goods, and introduced the Magic Mahoto in the late ’70s. However, now it would seem that these springy shivs’ days are numbered. Many would probably assume that it’s a victim of social trends moving away from violent toys, but as Horishoten explains in a Tweet, that is not the case.

“We have an unfortunate announcement to make. The Magic Mahoto, which has delighted naughty kids for a long time, has been discontinued. The reasons are that the in-house workers have gotten old and it is difficult to continue, and the number of cheaper Chinese-made products have increased. It seems it’s just a changing of the times.
It’s just sad…”

It would seem that after about 50 years, the craftsmanship that went into make a Magic Mahoto wasn’t worth passing on to a new generation and will stop at just one. Add in the competition from the powerful novelty knife industry in China, and Horishoten decided they simply couldn’t keep up any more.

Probably even the company didn’t expect much of a response to their announcement, but there was a sudden outpouring of support from Twitter users, amounting to over 10,000 likes and many comments, such as the following:

“Another classic toy is going away. Kids don’t have much to play with these days.”
“I used to love these, and it’s sad that other kids can’t enjoy them too.”
“That takes me back. Those were great props for drama club.”
“That sucks…”
“It’s depressing that all the toys I used to like are disappearing.”
“Why don’t they just use a 3-D printer?”
“Get ready for a flood of resellers online.”

Of course, this is only the end for Magic Mahoto, and doesn’t mean that joke knives are going to disappear altogether. Horishoten is far from the only manufacturer, though they do boast that theirs were unique in being a certified “Safe Toy” by the Japan Toy Association.

▼ Certified “safe” toys have a logo with “ST” on it. The Big Surprise Knife has no such mark, which means you should stab people with it at your own risk

Still, with Horishoten exiting the market to focus on poo-shaped cakes, it might become more difficult to get a decent fake knife here in the near future.

Source: Twitter/@horishoten, Hachima Kiko
Photos ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!



Credit:

0 comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)