First Yanagiba

Hey all. Well I'm looking to buy my first yanagiba and I've been looking at Sakai Yoshiharu sold by bluewayjapan. It would be the 270 model. Wondering what others think about this for a first time use. I also have to mention that I'm a lefty so for the price it is very hard to pass up. Sine this would be my first yanagi I'm not looking to shoot the moon and figure that if I do end up messing it up a little I wouldn't be that dishearten at it. Also if anyone else might have an alternative I would be happy to hear them to. Thanks again.

Buy/trade/sell - Gotta love that part of the forum You might even end up with a bargain

I'd agree with OD, cept you are going to have a hard time finding a lefty yanagi in the FS forums. The Sakai would be a pretty good option. Never held one myself, but others on the forums have picked them up and been pleased with them. Unless you are dealing personally with the vendor, the quality of any one given knife, particularly a cheaper option like the sakai, is going to be up in the air a little bit. If you go with the Sakai, you should contact the vendor and ask them to personally check the knife and make sure the blade is straight and doesn't have any torsional twisting.

Yeah that was what I was thinking. I would love to check out the forums but as you saw I'm a lefty and those are few and fare between.

aaronsgibson said:

Hey all. Well I'm looking to buy my first yanagiba and I've been looking at Sakai Yoshiharu sold by bluewayjapan. It would be the 270 model. Wondering what others think about this for a first time use. I also have to mention that I'm a lefty so for the price it is very hard to pass up. Sine this would be my first yanagi I'm not looking to shoot the moon and figure that if I do end up messing it up a little I wouldn't be that dishearten at it. Also if anyone else might have an alternative I would be happy to hear them to. Thanks again.

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I just happened upon your post when I saw similar postings about this knife brand on ebay and doing some research on this brand. Did you ever end up getting this knife? And how did you like it? Just curious because I am looking for left handed knives also....

Hey. I ended up getting a Yoshihiro from Jon and I really like it. Great work knife. Price isn't bad for a 270. Actually liked it so much that I have a 360 mm on order.

360???? :knife:

Pics please when it arrives. Fellow lefty with 300mm yanagiba though probably 280 or so now. It used to get a lot of use. Still love it though even though it sits with the rest of single bevels in my bedroom.

Tanaka does lefty yanagis, and they are very reasonable for the quality of steel....just another option.

I know Salty has a lefty, but its smaller; maybe 240. But, I bet he hasn't used it in years.....

Haha I'll shoot a few pics and try and post. May ask Jon to since I've never mastered the art of doing pictures on here. But even Jon said that this was the largest yanagi he has ever ordered "Small" birthday present to myself haha.