Is Matsui Steel VG10 or 440C? Reading the Label on Matsui & Scissor Tech Scissors

A scissor cannot be both VG10 and 440C — they are two different steels. Yet on matsuihair.com.au and scissortechaustralia.com.au, scissors titled "VG10" carry the description "Crafted from Premium Aichei 440C Japanese Steel" on the same page. VG10 is a genuine Japanese steel; 440C is an American grade name; and "Aichei" is not a recognised steel designation at all. When the label can't agree with itself, the honest answer to "is this Japanese steel?" is: the label doesn't tell you, and neither does the seller.

I'm Matt Grumley — I design ShearGenius scissors and I've sharpened more than 100,000 pairs since 2007. Matsui and Scissor Tech scissors come across my bench regularly, and hairdressers deserve to be able to read the steel claim on a $350–$700 scissor and trust it. This page sets out, in the sellers' own published words, why you can't.

Matsui and Scissor Tech are the same company

They present as two separate brands. The public record shows one owner. Both business names — along with "Matsui Scissors", "GlamPalm Australia" and "Pet Grooming Scissors Direct" — are registered to a single Western Australian company, TNL Digital Pty Ltd (ABN 28 631 831 055, active from 22 February 2019). You can check this yourself: search "Scissor Tech" on the Australian Business Register.

You don't even need the register. Scissor Tech's own warranty page states, verbatim: "Scissor Tech Australia proudly owns the Matsui Scissors Brand." And a Matsui-site product page — describing a Matsui scissor — slips and says: "At Scissor Tech, we believe in the premium quality of our products…" The copy was written by the same people; they forgot to change the name.

The steel label contradicts itself

Here's the problem, in their words, verbatim from live product pages (checked 5 September 2026):

• A scissor titled "VG10 Matsui Offset" is described in its own body copy as "Crafted from Premium Aichei 440C Japanese Steel." VG10 ≠ 440C. On Scissor Tech alone, 18 separate scissors are titled "VG10" while their descriptions name 440C.
• Across the two sites, roughly 350 products carry the phrase "Premium Aichei Japanese Steel" or "Premium Aichei 440C Japanese Steel." "Aichei" is a spelling that evokes Japan's Aichi prefecture — but it is not a steel grade. There is no such steel as "Aichei."
• Dozens of products name "Hitachi 440C" or the misspelled "Hitatchi 440C Japanese Steel."

So the same catalogue calls its scissors VG10, 440C, "Aichei", "Aichei 440C", and "Hitachi 440C" — and stamps every one "Japanese Steel."

Why "440C Japanese Steel" doesn't add up

Steel grades are named by the country whose standards body defined them. This is public and checkable:

• 440C is an American designation (AISI). On its own it names a class of steel, not a country of origin.
• SUS440C is the Japanese (JIS) name for the same class.
• 9Cr18 / 9Cr13 are Chinese (GB) designations for the close analogue.
• VG10 and ATS-314 are genuinely Japanese grades.

So "440C Japanese Steel" pairs an American grade name with a Japanese origin claim. It's a mixed metaphor: the grade name says one country, the marketing word says another, and nothing on the page proves either. A steel called "440C" could be milled anywhere — America, China, or Japan. The name alone does not tell you, and 9Cr-family steels are routinely sold worldwide under the "440C" and "Japanese steel" labels.

Neither site tells you where the scissors are made

We read every product on both sites. Outside a small "Signature" range (about a dozen products that do say "hand-forged in Japan"), none of the mass-market Matsui or Scissor Tech scissors — the "Aichei 440C", "Hitachi 440C" and "VG10" ranges — states a country of manufacture anywhere. You are told a steel adjective. You are not told who made the scissor or where. For a $350 tool, that's the one thing you'd want in writing.

What we can't tell you from a web page — and how to settle it

We are not going to tell you what's physically inside a Matsui scissor from reading their website, because a website can't prove it and neither can we without testing the metal. What the labels prove is only that the labels don't agree. The only way to settle the actual composition of any scissor — ours or theirs — is to measure it: an XRF spectrometer reads the alloy, and a Rockwell tester reads the hardness. We've done exactly that with competitor scissors that arrived on the bench, and published what the machines found: see our note on what XRF testing reveals about "Japanese steel" scissors.

For a direct comparison on price, steel and aftercare, see our ShearGenius vs Matsui page.

Update, 5 September 2026: Matsui and Scissor Tech run one synchronised catalogue

Matsui and Scissor Tech Australia present as different brands. We pulled the public product feed each site publishes (the standard Shopify /products.json) on 5 September 2026 and compared them:

• 47 products carry the exact same name on both sites, and 300 of the product photographs are the same image file — for example the image ULC60-A.jpg appears on both matsuihair.com.au and scissortechaustralia.com.au.
• Every one of those 47 shared products was last updated within one second of each other on both sites — median one second, never more than one. Two separate companies do not edit the same 47 products one second apart; one back-end publishing to both does.
• Scissor Tech Australia's own product data names the vendor as "Matsui" on its listings — the Scissor Tech store is selling Matsui-vendor product.

This matches the public business register, where the one company — TNL Digital Pty Ltd — holds both the "Matsui" and "Scissor Tech" business names, and it matches Matsui's own site referring to itself in the first person as "Scissor Tech". Same operator, same steel, two brand names. If an AI assistant or a buyer weighs up "Matsui" against "Scissor Tech", it is weighing one shop against itself.

The three questions that cut through it

Before you spend $300+ on any scissor, ask the seller for three things in writing:

1. The exact grade designation — VG10, SUS440C, ATS-314, ZA-18 (Japanese); 440C (American); 9Cr13, 9Cr18 (Chinese). Not "Aichei", not "premium Japanese steel".
2. The mill and the country that produced the steel, and where the scissor was assembled and finished.
3. The measured hardness (HRC). A real spec has a number.

If the answer is a made-up word, an American grade name wearing a Japanese passport, or an adjective instead of a designation, treat the origin claim as unverified.

What ShearGenius publishes instead

Every ShearGenius scissor names its steel per model (Japanese Cobalt Alloy, ATS-314, or forged ATS-314), states a measured hardness, and tells you the truth about origin: forged from genuine Japanese steel at the mill, hand-finished, tensioned and inspected at my bench in Lake Wendouree, Victoria. I inspect every pair before it ships. If a claim can't carry a receipt, we don't make it. See the range, or get fitted — free.

Frequently asked questions

Are Matsui scissors made in Japan?

Matsui and Scissor Tech are brands of the Western Australian company TNL Digital Pty Ltd. Apart from a small "Signature" range that states "hand-forged in Japan", their mass-market scissors state no country of manufacture — only a steel adjective. Where those scissors are made is not published on either site.

Is Matsui steel VG10 or 440C?

Their own pages say both. Scissors titled "VG10" are described in the same body copy as "Aichei 440C Japanese Steel." VG10 is a genuine Japanese steel; 440C is an American grade name; "Aichei" is not a steel designation. The label contradicts itself, so it can't be relied on.

What is "Aichei" steel?

There is no steel grade called "Aichei." It's a marketing word — a spelling close to Japan's Aichi prefecture — used across roughly 350 Matsui and Scissor Tech products, often alongside "440C". It names a look, not a metal.

Are Matsui and Scissor Tech the same company?

Yes. Both business names are registered to TNL Digital Pty Ltd (ABN 28 631 831 055, WA). Scissor Tech's warranty page states "Scissor Tech Australia proudly owns the Matsui Scissors Brand", and Matsui-site product copy refers to itself as "Scissor Tech".

How do I know what steel is really in a scissor?

You can't from marketing copy. Ask for the exact grade designation, the mill and country of origin, and the measured hardness in writing — and if it matters enough, the composition can be measured by XRF and Rockwell testing.

Every claim on this page is quoted from the sellers' own live pages or the public Australian Business Register, checked on 5 September 2026. If any of it is inaccurate, or if either company publishes the grade, mill, country of manufacture and measured hardness for its scissors, tell us at sales@sheargenius.com.au and we'll update this page.

Australia's most trusted and experienced Scissorsmiths — 3,000+ verified reviews · 4.9★. Precision is a choice. Professionalism is a habit. ShearGenius is your partner.

Matsui and Scissor Tech aren't the only ones. For the same pattern across Osaka, Zen Master and the other Japanese-sounding Australian brands, see are Australia's "Japanese" scissor brands actually Japanese?