Are Katos and Shigs just as hard to find in Japan as in the west?

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Daizone

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Are Katos and Shifs just as hard to find in Japan as they are in ge west? Going to Japan in November and was considering hunting for a 240 of either one. Not sure if there are any stores in particular to visit.
 
I'm sure others can give you better information, but in my experience, they are still pretty hard to find in Japan. The knife stores I visited in Tokyo had maybe one or two shigs (mostly display models like one particular 360mm Shigefusa kitaeji yanagiba) and no Kato that I could see. You can email/call ahead and ask the store if they have any particular knives you are interested in, they may or may not respond but I have had some luck getting answers this way. Prices depend on the store, sometimes they are cheaper than in the west, sometimes much more expensive.
 
Silky said:
I'm sure others can give you better information, but in my experience, they are still pretty hard to find in Japan. The knife stores I visited in Tokyo had maybe one or two shigs (mostly display models like one particular 360mm Shigefusa kitaeji yanagiba) and no Kato that I could see. You can email/call ahead and ask the store if they have any particular knives you are interested in, they may or may not respond but I have had some luck getting answers this way. Prices depend on the store, sometimes they are cheaper than in the west, sometimes much more expensive.
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Wow 360mm yanagiba, where did you see that?

To answer your question, you need a lot of luck..

I picked up 4 katos and 4 shigs in total on my last 2 trips. Some other members have picked up similar numbers if not more but at the same time, I know people who found nothing. A lot of the Japanese stores don't sell overseas and would not entertain the idea of it. So it's luck on what they have in stock on the day. From experience, shigs and katos if in stock are way cheaper than on European/USA sites/BST except maybe one store who contract Shigefusa to make knives for them under their own brand.
 
I believe I saw the yanagiba at Kiya when I was in Tokyo last winter. It was around 1500 usd I think, a decent price but still way too rich for my blood.
 
I've been knife hunting in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka for the past two months and can say I've seen WAY more of Kato san's and Shigefusa's knives abroad than in stores here, maybe 10 times more
 
Bring some Shigs back with ya! Might as well make a few $$ selling them off when you get back.
 
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