Practical, sourced guides for people buying Japanese kitchen knives from abroad, written by The JKI Editors in Tokyo.
Basics · 7 min read
One Japanese knife exists to peel a daikon into a single sheet. Another is a thin stainless gyuto drawn on the lines of a Western chef's knife. Here is how the family splits, what the words on a listing mean, and which knife fits which cook.
By The JKI Editors · · 14 sources
Basics · 7 min read
Cut basil with a dull knife and it blackens. Cut it with a thin, hard Japanese edge and it stays green for hours. That edge comes from a few specific choices about geometry, steel and labour, and each one has a cost.
By The JKI Editors · · 16 sources
History · 7 min read
Sakai's knife fame began with tobacco, not fish. Japan's knife towns made swords, sickles and nails before they made kitchen knives, and the kitchen came last. Every date here is one we could source.
By The JKI Editors · · 15 sources
Kanji & identification · 8 min read
In Sakai, the name goes on last, cut by hand after the smith, the sharpener and the handle-fitter have finished. That order explains most of what a mei can tell you, and most of what it can't.
By The JKI Editors · · 36 sources
Every factual statement in a column links to the page it came from. Columns are not sponsored. Source links go to the pages we read; links to Hocho Knife, a shop we have an affiliate relationship with, are marked as sponsored (see the disclosure).