Takeda existed as a company, long before they were discovered by members of ITK. The early members of ITK, such as Fish, Lee, C-Dawg, Andy, etc..., had some serious cajones. They'd surf the internet, find a maker, and if they liked what they saw send an international postal money order and then wait months for the knife to be shipped.
The dynamics on ITK with an "it", maker, was post after post filled with hyperbole. My knife is so sharp, that it cuts molecules. Food jumps out of its way. Imagine a person new to Japanese knives, buys a knife from an "it" maker. The knife arrives, and it has problems. They are going to wonder if the problem is them or the knife? When somebody finally bursts the hyperbole, their is a slew of complaints.
My sense, in other words speculation is that at the end of the day, Japanese knife makers, sort their knives by quality. There is a market for people who want a good piece of steel, that quickly go through knives, so they don't want to pay a lot. They are willing to deal with problems that comes with inexpensive knives, such as poor fit and finish, and grinding issues.
The window for what is considered acceptable is much smaller in the west, then it is in Japan. Typically the problems have occurred, when people ordered directly from the maker. Koki with JCK, has mentioned in e-mails, that delays in shipping are due to troubles acquiring a good knife from the maker.
One buyer was told that Koki had to send back a knife three times, before he got a good one. The buyer eventually had a fire sale and I picked up this knife. Fit and finish were average.
My experiences, plus what I have read, just reinforces, that I will gladly go through a middle man. They know what people in the west want, and can take care of problems.
Jay
