Masakage Koishi reviews?

Just curious about people's impression of the Masakage Koishi knives. They're Aogami Super heat treated to HRC of 63-65, clad in stainless, with a kurouchi finish. How many folks out there have used or own one? What are your impressions of geometry, profile, general performance, sharpenability, edge retention, etc.?

Can anyone with user experience compare them to Hiromoto, Takeda, Kanehiro, etc.?

(I'm generally asking about the gyutos, but would be interested to hear experiences about any of the knives in this line.)

Thanks for any input. I searched and found a few people mention them, but thought it would be worth it to start a new thread to see what people have to say.

I had the chance to test a suji for a while. Very well crafted. Performed very well. The kurouchi seemed a bit powdery for lack of a better word. Performance wise, it was comparable to my Hiromoto. I didn't have it long enough to find out how long the edge would hang, but I'd guess that it would do well in that respect. The suji had an unusually tall profile. It would make a fantastic line knife. Kind of a suji-gyutou hybrid.

Miles, thanks for sharing your experience.

Anyone else out there have any thoughts to share?

I have had a couple from this series, they are a beautiful make. Again the ku is "powdery" but seems to lose that quality over time. It stays screaming sharp for sometime as well. I like the masakage line up.

Similar geo to the yosh skd. Unusually nice stock handle.

both while steel lines look really nice.

these look pretty awesome, any user input?

I'd also really like to know any first hand experience with masakage knives because I never see them talked about, is it because the price is too high for them?

yeah, it would be cool if someone started a passaround...