I want to buy a custom knife direct from a Japanese Maker

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rockbox

rockbox

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One of my friends, who is one of the top sushi chefs in Austin right now (fully booked 5 months out), wants to buy a honyaki sakimaru takohiki from a Japanese maker. He wants to buy direct from the maker when he can travel to Japan again. Nothing like personally interacting with the craftsmen making your knife. Are there any makers that you guys recommend that he can actually meet? Obviously, only once this pandemic has settled down.
 
Does he want to meet the forger, the sharpener, or does he imagine that honyaki takohikis are forged and sharpened by the same person? Does he expect this person to be able to speak english? And does he somehow imagine this person will have the time and willingness to meet with a customer who's only buying a single knife? Your friend sounds like a bit of an Austin cliché, to put it politely :)

I would recommend reaching out to Kosuke, the owner of Konosuke. He doesn't do any of the physical labor, but he speaks excellent English and would provide the best customer experience. Maybe see if he could arrange a visit to one of the workshops in Sakai.
 
rockbox said:
He wants to buy direct from the maker when he can travel to Japan again. Nothing like personally interacting with the craftsmen making your knife. Are there any makers that you guys recommend that he can actually meet? Obviously, only once this pandemic has settled down.
Click to expand...

Cool idea. But really, nobody knows when international travel will return to "normal". And the situation persists where you might be able to go somewhere but may not be able to get back in on return due to changes in entry policies.
I have been stuck here since mid 2019.
 
spaceconvoy said:
Does he want to meet the forger, the sharpener, or does he imagine that honyaki takohikis are forged and sharpened by the same person? Does he expect this person to be able to speak english? And does he somehow imagine this person will have the time and willingness to meet with a customer who's only buying a single knife? Your friend sounds like a bit of an Austin cliché, to put it politely :)

I would recommend reaching out to Kosuke, the owner of Konosuke. He doesn't do any of the physical labor, but he speaks excellent English and would provide the best customer experience. Maybe see if he could arrange a visit to one of the workshops in Sakai.
Click to expand...

That is why I posted this question. Looking for maker that would be willing to meet.

When you are willing to spend a few grand on a piece of art, it would be nice to meet the person who made it.
 
KenHash said:
Cool idea. But really, nobody knows when international travel will return to "normal". And the situation persists where you might be able to go somewhere but may not be able to get back in on return due to changes in entry policies.
I have been stuck here since mid 2019.
Click to expand...

Getting back into the US isn't really an issue. Its having other countries letting us in is the problem.
 
Sounds like he’s really looking for the Japanese equivalent of a Western custom maker, not really the Japanese “production” knives we normally see here.

I don’t know of any unfortunately, but if he’s really willing to spend a few thousand then there’s plenty of highly reputable Western bladesmiths he could meet with for the price of a plane ticket plus the piece itself.
 
rockbox said:
it would be nice to meet the person who made it
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There is no one person (to my knowledge) who makes honyaki takohikis. They are made by at least two people, and their identities can often be a trade secret. I didn't ask those questions to antagonize you, it's pretty important to know whether or not your friends speaks Japanese, and who exactly they want to meet.
 
I would do Nakagawa. Seems like a great guy and does amazing honyakis. Not sure if you can choose the sharpener but message him on Instagram and let him know you are serious. He does a lot of single bevel high end stuff, would be right up his alley.
 
rockbox said:
One of my friends, who is one of the top sushi chefs in Austin right now (fully booked 5 months out), wants to buy a honyaki sakimaru takohiki from a Japanese maker. He wants to buy direct from the maker when he can travel to Japan again. Nothing like personally interacting with the craftsmen making your knife. Are there any makers that you guys recommend that he can actually meet? Obviously, only once this pandemic has settled down.
Click to expand...

Often, the company that sells the knives doesn’t employ the craftsmen directly so that can be a difficulty. Another one is that at many places, the blacksmith is a different person than the sharpener, as others have mentioned. It might be possible to meet the blacksmith and to see some samples of his work, and chances are good to be able to meet the sharpener. But if you want to have a custom order and be more or less directly involved, that might be very difficult as it is very uncommon and there are also many cultural differences in this aspect. Some traditional blacksmiths offer knife making experiences so asking if it would be possible to be involved in making a honyaki sakimaru takohiki could be a possibility. Another option is through a middleman, as others have mentioned. Mr. Nakagawa that jedy617 mentioned could also be one of the persons who would be in for this kind of thing. One of the sharpeners who works with Mr. Nakagawa is Mr. Makoto Tadokoro who trained under Morihiro and does custom orders according to the customer’s specifications and is happy to meet the customers, so asking him could be another good option.
 
rockbox said:
One of my friends, who is one of the top sushi chefs in Austin right now (fully booked 5 months out), wants to buy a honyaki sakimaru takohiki from a Japanese maker. He wants to buy direct from the maker when he can travel to Japan again. Nothing like personally interacting with the craftsmen making your knife. Are there any makers that you guys recommend that he can actually meet? Obviously, only once this pandemic has settled down.
Click to expand...

If he speaks Japanese, I highly recommend Shigeharu in Kyoto. I visited a few years ago and he is a one-person knifemaker that has some beautiful honyaki blades. I don't know if he would create something, but he has several show pieces he is looking for the right buyer (I did not qualify!) His wife speaks a little English, but Shigeharu-san does not speak any English, so communication is pretty tough.
https://openkyoto.com/real-kyoto-knives-aritsugu-knives/
TF in Tokyo (I also visited personally and selected a special knife to hand-carry home), but I don't think he does honyaki, but one of his apprentices may.

Finally I highly recommend visiting Echizen and Takefu Knife Village if he doesn't mind traveling outside of Tokyo. There are several makers there and the administrators of Takefu can arrange a personal meeting and even a translator.

https://www.japanny.com/pages/meet-...MI-JDIobyO9QIVsRrnCh0ZoQDcEAAYASAAEgInHvD_BwE
 
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