Kikuichi-monji

Anybody familiar with these guys? Are they just a purveyor or a knife maker?

http://www.kikuichimonji.com/

Thanks,

-AJ

Kikiuchi is an oem of many different kinds of blades.

ThEoRy said:

Kikiuchi is an oem of many different kinds of blades.

Click to expand...

I've seen many posts about Kikiuchi but they all seem to refer to this place: http://kikuichi.net/ which appear to be quite different. I didn't think Kikiuchi-monji and Kikiuchi were the same, they have different lettering. Or are they one and the same?

-AJ

I have a honyaki from them that I am sure they did not make.It is identical to other honyaki on the market.Fantastic knife and I was able to snag it at half price and it was never used by the seller.

Annnd that's what I get for not clicking on the link first... lol I apologize. After looking, they appear to have different logos as well. They both seem to stem from the same origin allegedly.
wikipedia says...

"Kikuichi-monji", is a collective name given to the Japanese swords made by the thirteen swordsmiths who were in attendance to the Emperor Go-Toba in 1208.

So it is possible they both stem from the same roots. Though the are definitely different entities. On each website they both make claim to the same origin as well, though kikiuchi http://kikuichi.net/about-us.aspx seem to delve a bit deeper into historical traces than kikiuchimonji http://www.kikuichimonji.co.jp/h.html

they're a knife store in kyoto located on one of the covered shopping mall streets

Google Maps view

270 gyuto with VG-steel/stainless damascus 90000 yen?. Can someone explain why that isn't a robbery?

JBroida said:

they're a knife store in kyoto located on one of the covered shopping mall streets

Google Maps view

Click to expand...

So then whose knives do they, Kikuichi-monji, sell?

Thanks,

-AJ

I have no idea if this is true or not but my impression of them is that they buy high end knives from makers and have them branded with their name. I believe that the knives that I've seen from Kikuichimonji were all honyaki and a world apart from those that I've seen from Kikuichi which are somewhat low end.

what dave said... they carry a lot of makers from all over and have them all done under the kikuichimonji brand... you can find some pretty nice knives there if you ever have a chance to go... i bought from them many years back