Traveling to Japan: Looking for Gyuto in Specific Areas

Hey y'all!
I've been a long time lurker, but I've decided to finally come out from under the rock and join the community

I'm planning to go to Japan in April, and one of the most exciting parts of the trip will be shopping for my very first Japanese knife as a memento of my time in Japan.
I'd love to have a gyuto with great edge retention and fit/feeling first, but still sharp enough to glide through firm vegetables and slice sinewy meat. I'm also a bit limited in areas. I've seriously considered the Aritsugu A-Type for it's reputation for indestructibility. One other important little requirement: the knife needs to be customized with my family name, 吳.

Without further ado:

LOCATION
What country are you in?
USA, but will be travelling to Tokyo (Tsukiji/Ueno/Shibuya areas), Osaka (Namba), and Kyoto (Nishiki Market area). The shops will need to be within walking distance to these places as I've only allocated a little time to knife hunting =)


KNIFE TYPE
What type of knife are you interested in (e.g., chef’s knife, slicer, boning knife, utility knife, bread knife, paring knife, cleaver)?
A carbon or semi-stainless gyuto. Maybe a small petty knife too

Are you right or left handed?
Right

Are you interested in a Western handle (e.g., classic Wusthof handle) or Japanese handle?
Wa-handled

What length of knife (blade) are you interested in (in inches or millimeters)?
200-240mm

Do you require a stainless knife? (Yes or no)
No

What is your absolute maximum budget for your knife?
$200/21000 yen


KNIFE USE
Do you primarily intend to use this knife at home or a professional environment?
Home

What are the main tasks you primarily intend to use the knife for (e.g., slicing vegetables, chopping vegetables, mincing vegetables, slicing meats, cutting down poultry, breaking poultry bones, filleting fish, trimming meats, etc.)? (Please identify as many tasks as you would like.)
All traditional French style vegetable and herbs preparation, slicing meat, fish, tofu. Will be rock chopping often, hence need for good edge retention

What knife, if any, are you replacing?
A cheap montana knife works Santoku

Do you have a particular grip that you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for the common types of grips.)
Pinch and hammer grips

What cutting motions do you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for types of cutting motions and identify the two or three most common cutting motions, in order of most used to least used.)
Rock and tap chopping, slicing

What improvements do you want from your current knife? If you are not replacing a knife, please identify as many characteristics identified below in parentheses that you would like this knife to have.)
A sharp and fun to use knife with a Japanese profile. I'm tired of dull knives, and I really like the Japanese aesthetic, I intend to keep the knife long after it's beyond serviceable

Better aesthetics (e.g., a certain type of finish; layered/Damascus or other pattern of steel; different handle color/pattern/shape/wood; better scratch resistance; better stain resistance)?
An option for nicer handle and collar would be cool. Not interested in patterned steel or other frills

Comfort (e.g., lighter/heavier knife; better handle material; better handle shape; rounded spine/choil of the knife; improved balance)?
Thin, well balance

Ease of Use (e.g., ability to use the knife right out of the box; smoother rock chopping, push cutting, or slicing motion; less wedging; better food release; less reactivity with food; easier to sharpen)?
evenly balanced

Edge Retention (i.e., length of time you want the edge to last without sharpening)?
~1 month of light-medium use with an edge that won't make me pull my hair out.


KNIFE MAINTENANCE
Do you use a bamboo, wood, rubber, or synthetic cutting board? (Yes or no.)
Yes

Do you sharpen your own knives? (Yes or no.)
No

If not, are you interested in learning how to sharpen your knives? (Yes or no.)
Yes

Are you interested in purchasing sharpening products for your knives? (Yes or no.)
Yes, I plan on getting a King 1200 Grit and a Suehiro Rika 5000, I already have a chinese made 250/500 grit stone, and enough wine corks to last a lifetime of burr removal.


SPECIAL REQUESTS/COMMENTS
Places/knives I've considered so far are Tsukiji Masamoto, Aritsugu's A-Type, and Shigeharu.

Thanks guys and gals!
Johnny

Where exactly are you going in Japan? This will affect matters a lot in terms of which shops you can visit. It is a truly brilliant country - I love it!

In my view it is practically impossible to visit Japan as a knife enthusiast and come back with only one knife. On my last trip I accidentally bought 8. I actually told my wife I would sell some (fat chance!).

Your budget and the steel you prefer will be factors. A bit more information would help.

Adrian said:

Where exactly are you going in Japan? This will affect matters a lot in terms of which shops you can visit. It is a truly brilliant country - I love it!

In my view it is practically impossible to visit Japan as a knife enthusiast and come back with only one knife. On my last trip I accidentally bought 8. I actually told my wife I would sell some (fat chance!).

Your budget and the steel you prefer will be factors. A bit more information would help.

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Tokyo (Tsukiji/Ueno/Shibuya areas), Osaka (Namba), and Kyoto (Nishiki Market area). I'm budgeting $200 max, not including the stones.

Is the questionnaire not showing?

tokyo puts you near the 5 shops in tsukiji and the kappabashi area near ueno... not much knife-wise near shibuya. In osaka, there isnt much near namba. The knife areas are a bit farther away from there than walking will allow, but a short train ride makes quite a bit possible. In kyoto, there are 2 knife shops in the nishiki area, and a couple near the castle.

I posted this elsewhere recently: there are two main knife shopping areas in Tokyo. One is in and near the Tsukiji fish market (which is moving soon and is a must see for anyone interested in food) and the other is in the catering supply district across town - about 40 minutes away from the fish market by underground, plus about a 10 minute walk.

There are five specialist knife shops currently in the fish market, and one of these has a larger shop outside. Here is a link to a blog which is pretty informative. I have been meaning to do my own, having been all over Japan and even made knives there, but so far I have not found the time.

http://yayasyumyums.blogspot.jp/2011/08/knife-shops-in-japan-tokyo-kyoto-osaka.html

My own experience is that Masumoto Tsukiji outside the market is exceptionally helpful and this is in my view the best knife shop in the fish market. I have bought two blue steel and one white steel No 1 knife from there. It is essential to have the knife sharpened in the shop. if you want a saya (sheath) - and you should certainly get one, this is extra and will need to be asked for. There is also a small charge for boxing the knife and saya. You should pay this too as it makes the knife safer to transport and likely to give you no problems with airport customs. The knife should go in hold luggage obviously. Buy a spare saya pin as well.

You MUST go to the fish market in the morning, preferably early. All the knife shops will be closed by lunchtime.

Incidentally there is also a really excellent book shop in the fish market that has a remarkable range of books. So if you want a book that will show you in superb photographs (don't worry if you don't read Japanese) how to fillet fish, make sashimi, sushi etc then, this is well worth a visit. It is on the corner of one of the shop alleys at the fish market end (as opposed to the transport end near the station entrance). Easy to find.

If you go to the Kappabashi catering supply district, there are around a dozen or so shops on the main drag and side streets that either specialise in selling knives or sell a lot of knives with other stuff. One of these is aimed fairly and squarely at the American tourist market and they advertise US speaking ability. This looks like an American shop, with a distinctly western feel inside. Overpriced I thought. Limited brand choice. Avoid.

In this area I like Kamata, which is on the left side of the main street heading north. They were very helpful and have an extensive selection of stainless, VG10, 1 and 2 white, 2 blue etc. The better knives (one piece forged for example) are towards the back of the shop and prices escalate accordingly. They also have about 40 or so decorated knives with fancy sayas if that is your thing. This shop only sells knives. You can get high quality at what I regarded as sensible prices.

Don't expect Japan to be especially cheap. That said, for very high end knives I was able to buy them in Japan for less than half of what I would pay in the UK (if I could even get this quality in the UK).

In Kyoto there are three proper knife shops directly in the market areas, of which one is quite tourist oriented with prices to match. It is well worth seeking out Shigeharu, which is a tiny shop on a massive multi lane road near the town hall. We tramped around for ages to find this place and it was a great experience. They didn't speak any English but it is not a tourist shop and you will get by as long as you know what you want.

In Osaka take a taxi to Ichimonji Chuki. There are actually half a dozen knife shops in this short covered alley, but IC is easily the best and most specialised. Very helpful and fantastic selection. Sakai is not far away, but if planning to go there bear in mind that the knife museum is closed on Mondays (or it was when I went recently: check their web site).

Adrian

Message me where you will be staying in Osaka. I can tell you where every knife store is and can tell you the one nearest to you.

Osaka you are looking at namba/shin Sekai areas. Do you speak any Japanese? If not very limited on explanations of knives.

You mentioned a specific area knife. Do you mean do you want a hand forged knife out of Sakai? Kyushu region? Machine made out is Seki? Etc. that will also come into play which stores I can recommend or show you in osaka.

Already have plans to show another member here around osaka during April. Don't mind another.

Budget for around 18,000 - 22,000 for a white carbon steel 210mm gyuto to be safe.

Adrian said:

Incidentally there is also a really excellent book shop in the fish market that has a remarkable range of books. So if you want a book that will show you in superb photographs (don't worry if you don't read Japanese) how to fillet fish, make sashimi, sushi etc then, this is well worth a visit. It is on the corner of one of the shop alleys at the fish market end (as opposed to the transport end near the station entrance). Easy to find.

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I bought a few books there my last trip to mainland. They do have an amazing selection. Cash only of I recall correctly. Some great sushi joints for lunch too. There's also a Yamato Kuroneko office right in Tsukiji if you want to ship your stuff rather than carry it around.

HelplessCorgis said:

One other important little requirement: the knife needs to be customized with my family name, 吳.

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I don't give you any practical advice, but one thing to note... Is your family name Wu or something like that?
The character '吳' is obsolete in Japanese, and they use '呉' (or in rare occasion '虞' if phonetic identity is the primary necessity) in place of the character.
So you need to be especially careful about name engraving services probably. You should have no problem with hand engraving I guess but cheaper services might get it wrong.
http://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/吳
http://unicode.org/cldr/utility/character.jsp?a=5433

Might not be a big deal, but better safe than sorry, so they say.

Wow, thank you all for all of the guidance! Adrian, you should post this knowledge on Medium, I'll be happy to provide photos for it after my trip!

Osaka Joe, thank you for the offer, but unfortunately, I'm very limited to Namba area (where I plan to spend most of my day and a half, mostly eating :hungry and Higobashi (where I'm staying). I'm not as much concerned about where my knife comes from, but more concerned about where I can shop for them. My Japanese vocabulary is only good enough to not die of starvation in Japan, haha.

no_one_just_Roy said:

I don't give you any practical advice, but one thing to note... Is your family name Wu or something like that?
The character '吳' is obsolete in Japanese, and they use '呉' (or in rare occasion '虞' if phonetic identity is the primary necessity) in place of the character.
So you need to be especially careful about name engraving services probably. You should have no problem with hand engraving I guess but cheaper services might get it wrong.
http://ja.wiktionary.org/wiki/吳
http://unicode.org/cldr/utility/character.jsp?a=5433

Might not be a big deal, but better safe than sorry, so they say.

Click to expand...

I'm hoping for the traditional interpretation of 吳. I'll be sure to show them a picture on my phone, thanks for the heads up!

Would I still be under my $200 budget if I went for a white steel gyuto from either Masamoto or Aritsugu Tsukiji?

No, I don't think.. 😔
You Need a higher budget if you wanna buy one of those blades.

A carbon kasumi (or zen-ko) 240mm should be in that price range. However, neither Aritsugu (Swedish, A-type or "super" A-type) or Masamoto (SK3 or V1) in Tsukiji do a white steel wa-gyuto iirc.

Haha I live 3 minute walk from higobashi station. I can definitely show you some fun bars. You'll definitely need to contact me

And I know where you can get a hand forged white steel gyuto in your budget.