Identify Old Yanagi

[eugen_onegin]

Inherited this old yanagi from a family member a few months back. I sent it out to Carter Cutlery to straighten the tip and for an overall sharpening(which it is most certainly scary sharp. The flat bevel side has the engraving. If I had to venture a guess, the knife is probably ~30 years old.

 

[preizzo]

Mizuno I think

 

[Doug]

Kikuhide

 

[eugen_onegin]

Thanks for all the help so far guys. Preizzo, I've reached out to Japanese Chef Knives.com since they sell Mizunos. I will continue to puruse and will update the post as I get more information.

I'm having a hard time finding kikuhide knifes for comparison. Doug do you have any advice on finding some to match?

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[spoiledbroth]

http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/9389-japanese-knife-identification I'll just leave this here. I feel like there was a more recent identification thread that referenced this shop. (kikuhide).

To be clear, I'm not saying it's either or.

 

[Doug]

The two characters third and fourth row down from the top read Kiku Hide
I worked on some knives a friend bought when he was in port at Yokosuka Naval Base Japan.
The link below is to the Yokosuka local information website featuring the Kikuhide store where my friend purchased his knives.
You can see the Kikuhide characters in the upper right corner of the photo with the three ladies behind the counter.
I couldn't find a working website link but the site below gives a phone# and indicates english "OK"
Thats the limit of my knowledge on Kikuhide. I hope this helps.

Doug





http://sukaichi-e.com/shop_search/detail/39/

 

[eugen_onegin]

Damn Doug! You the man! JapaneseChefKnife.com got back to me as well and confirmed that it is also Kikuhide. So cool! Thanks for the help and the link with the characters to match!

Additionally, ok, so, if Kikuhide is the shop, then who makes the knives? I've seen some Akitada's that look somewhat familiar, I can't get a good look at the characters enough to compare though. Does Kikuhide produce knives and then sell them in their shop?

 

[Doug]

I believe Kikuhide is a retail shop that has knives made for them that are "Privite Labeled". Retailers buy knives from wholesellers who source knives from multiple knife makers. Kikuhide may be the only ones who could tell you who made your knife .

 

[Chuckles]

I don't know what it means but the top symbol is the same as it is on Mizunos.

 

[Doug]

The top characters mean something like "registered brand name"

 

[Knived]

I don't know what it means but the top symbol is the same as it is on Mizunos.

That means registered trade mark, followed by kikuhide and last three letters are hontanren(honkasumi knife)