Sakai – 4in-Japan

On our way from Tokyo to Kyoto we first had a short stop over in Sakai-City to see the production of a real Japanese Knife.

Sakai-City is the centre of knife industry and stand as a brand name „SAKAI WAZASHU“ to be recognised for best quality and sharpness world wide. It has a long history of traditional industry and many companies have the knowledge and craftsmanship to produce the best knives. We were lucky to have a look behind the scene.

But before I tell more we have to thank Mrs. Izumi Yoshida from Seiko Trading Co. LTD. She did not only she organise the meetings and planned our schedule for the day, she also picked us up from the train station and spend half day showing us around. So we are grateful and overwhelmed by the kindness. Thank you so much! 彼らの努力のための誠実な感謝.

We are also very thankful to Mr. Ichiro Fujita from K awamura Hammond CO., LTD. He helped us to navigate through the small streets of Sakai-City and get in contact with our blacksmith and sharpener. Thank you very much! 彼らの努力のための誠実な感謝.

And of course we send a huge „thank you so much“ to Markus Zocholl from Style-5, who helped us to get in contact with Mrs. Izumi Yoshida in the first place and get such an incredible tour. He is also our favourite japanese knife supplier in Germany and we strongly recommend him to any of you. So if you are searching for a knife you will be happy with all your life visit his shop Style-5 either in Karlsruhe or get a look at the Schneidwert website. You can also get lessons in how to use your knife making a Sushi and how to get it sharp again 🙂

Our tour starts with a visit of Sakai Hamono to get a short briefing in all kinds of knives produced in Sakai and to get an overview in the process of knife production.

The knife production has several states. Unfortunately we were not able to see the first one with the forging and hammering and the bringen into shape. This is done only in the morning and as we arrived only after noon we joined the process of getting the surface for the knife.

With great honour we were allowed to see the blacksmith Mr. Tanaka-san.

After the first shaping in the morning the knives are slowly cool down in such boxes…

It is to keep the metal smooth and flexible in the beginning to be able to cut it and get the shape straight.

The next step is to cover it with a thin layer of clay, heat up over 700 degree and cool down faster so than the structure becomes harder with a nice surface.

You can see this in the next video, sorry it is so dark but our blacksmith switch off the light to see the color of the glowing metal to know the right temperature. He is firing with pine coal which is known to be the best and most expensive, to get the best temperature and clear process.

https://youtu.be/VRonsdbEEPg

The beginning scene is straightening the knives by his trainees and an overview over his smithy.