Moving a peony

It depends, often the sections obliging separate themselves but if not take your courage in your hand and get the knife out. A friend literally shoved a spade into the middle of her nice pale pink double about September time and heaved out half of it to donate to the sale. I split it up and all sections survived. I did keep them pretty dry until around March of the following year which I do think helps the cut surfaces to heal.

 

I always use a hand saw thing. I don't know what its called.

 

I have a similar knife - it's for cutting woody branches which are too hefty for loppers, and which don't need anything more usbstantial like a bow or chainsaw etc.
I haven't split one for a long, long time @Meomye , but it'll depend on how damp/light the soil is, and how big the root system is. If it's light soil, or just nicely damp, it'll separate more readily, as @hailbopp describes, so it would be a case of seeing what it's like when you dig it up. Just make sure you have pieces that have decent buds/growth points at the base, and a good piece of root, and they'll be fine to pot up or replant, depending on time of year and your conditions.

An old bread knife might be hefty enough, but if not - a spade, or a bog standard wood saw will do the job.

 

Thank you @hailbopp @Jack Sparrow @fairygirl