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ReiHamono said:
The issue is that virtually all Japanese blacksmiths are backed up due to such high demand and many are also slowing down due to getting old and even looking to retire.

For sharpeners it’s much worse as they are in very low supply and high demand. Many are old slowing down and prepared to retire as well.

The demand for Japanese knives is only increasing over time as people find out about them and quickly grow a desire for the best.

Soon prices won’t even matter as it will be a 4-5 year wait to even get the opportunity to purchase your favorite knife in the first place.
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While I agree with much of this, there is the flip side that the Western buyers are incredibly fickle. Buyers will go nuts over a old school Fujiyama by Tanaka/Morohiro, but the same combo would sit in a Kagekiyo. A FM flies off the shelf, but a quick search shows Nakagawa in stock in quite a few stores. It's almost like people want to just fight over what's not in stock while better blades sit in stores.
 
esoo said:
While I agree with much of this, there is the flip side that the Western buyers are incredibly fickle. Buyers will go nuts over an old school Fujiyama by Tanaka/Morohiro, but the same combo would sit in a Kagekiyo. A FM flies off the shelf, but a quick search shows Nakagawa in stock in quite a few stores. It's almost like people want to just fight over what's not in stock while better blades sit in stores.
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There’s no attribution in a Kagekiyo is the problem and it changes over time.

FM is not Nakagawa btw. The only Tanaka Myojin combo in a gyuto profile that is attributed is the Kama Asa, which isn’t in stock either.

On an unrelated note, it’s interesting you have FMs being produced slowly when a ton of other Tanaka and Myojin knives are being produced. But maybe this is more about Konosukes relationship with them. For one, Tetsujin was initially launched with Konosuke but it seems like they are not really distributing them anymore
 
esoo said:
While I agree with much of this, there is the flip side that the Western buyers are incredibly fickle. Buyers will go nuts over an old school Fujiyama by Tanaka/Morohiro, but the same combo would sit in a Kagekiyo. A FM flies off the shelf, but a quick search shows Nakagawa in stock in quite a few stores. It's almost like people want to just fight over what's not in stock while better blades sit in stores.
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As is true with any collectors hobby. Nail on the head with that last part.
 
blokey said:
A lot of old Sakai stuff was branded by knife houses with no no personal signatures, some have tang stamped but that’s it, also lots of people don’t really do their own brand well until lot later, Toyama started his own only after he retired from Tadafusa, tho you can actually found lots of old Toyamas on Yahoo auction, and some of the single bevel Sakais might as well be from 20 years ago and never touched till recently
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Y Tanaka has been in the game for >50 years - must be some vintage!
 
superworrier said:
There’s no attribution in a Kagekiyo is the problem and it changes over time.

FM is not Nakagawa btw. The only Tanaka Myojin combo in a gyuto profile that is attributed is the Kama Asa, which isn’t in stock either.

On an unrelated note, it’s interesting you have FMs being produced slowly when a ton of other Tanaka and Myojin knives are being produced. But maybe this is more about Konosukes relationship with them. For one, Tetsujin was initially launched with Konosuke but it seems like they are not really distributing them anymore
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Definitely a relationship / contract thing. You’re spot on!
 
Will a myojij sg2 240mm outperform my Kurosaki fujin sg2 240mm gyuto? I’d like to try one out debating on pulling the trigger
 
superworrier said:
There’s no attribution in a Kagekiyo is the problem and it changes over time.

FM is not Nakagawa btw. The only Tanaka Myojin combo in a gyuto profile that is attributed is the Kama Asa, which isn’t in stock either.

On an unrelated note, it’s interesting you have FMs being produced slowly when a ton of other Tanaka and Myojin knives are being produced. But maybe this is more about Konosukes relationship with them. For one, Tetsujin was initially launched with Konosuke but it seems like they are not really distributing them anymore
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I’m well aware that the FM is Tanaka/Myojin. My reference to Nakagawa was just meant as a comparison of how one smith flies off the shelf while the other sits.

As for Kagekiyo, yes some are unattributed, but even the ones that were sit longer than a Konosuke would.
 
esoo said:
I’m well aware that the FM is Tanaka/Myojin. My reference to Nakagawa was just meant as a comparison of how one smith flies off the shelf while the other sits.

As for Kagekiyo, yes some are unattributed, but even the ones that were sit longer than a Konosuke would.
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Kagekiyo attribution isn’t stable though. Because they can name a smith but there’s no guarantee it wasn’t made by a different one a year ago. They should really give it a catchy name instead
 
blokey said:
ZaHocho got some interesting honesuki, they also got Tanaka Dama white 1 in the same batch for very good price but all sold out
https://zahocho.com/products/yoshik...afZER90__3MrQJEbgQcDwGsdEpBTD9ihU2fI7jmmKGDYk
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Dat S-grind! Pretty nice, though maybe a little dainty for a honesuki.

1713243613687.png
 
superworrier said:
There’s no attribution in a Kagekiyo is the problem and it changes over time.

FM is not Nakagawa btw. The only Tanaka Myojin combo in a gyuto profile that is attributed is the Kama Asa, which isn’t in stock either.

On an unrelated note, it’s interesting you have FMs being produced slowly when a ton of other Tanaka and Myojin knives are being produced. But maybe this is more about Konosukes relationship with them. For one, Tetsujin was initially launched with Konosuke but it seems like they are not really distributing them anymore
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I was actually at Kama Asa yesterday and saw a 270 B1 Tanaka Myojin gyuto there. About $475 if I recall.
 
Tomas Randa said:
Will a myojij sg2 240mm outperform my Kurosaki fujin sg2 240mm gyuto? I’d like to try one out debating on pulling the trigger
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Yu Kurosaki used to forge his own blade and have his brother to grind it. To my knowledge this has stopped completely since his brother started his own line. Since then, Yu Kurosaki's knives grind has been nothing but inconsistent, and he doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all. These days he's more of a celebrity than a smith considered that there's no forging at all with these stamped sg2, with the amount of blades being pumped out, you can be certain that they have to have more than one person grinding them (some of his videos suggested that as well).

Afaik myojin grinds his own blades, and they are on a completely different level. Thin convex versus the typical takefu concave grind. Yes whilst not scoring as high with the bling factor, the F&F alone is way better, and imo a much better cutter as well. But would you see a massive improvement in performance ootb? Probably by a small amount but don't expect a day and night difference. Further down the road tho, a thin convex will be easier to maintain over a concave.
 
Yoshi said:
But would you see a massive improvement in performance ootb? Probably by a small amount but don't expect a day and night difference.
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Yes, I’ll go out on a limb and say that the OP would have more fun trying out a Tetsujin B1 (which pop up with some regularity on BST) than nerd out over the distinguishing features between two stock removal SG2 240mm gyutos.
 
Simply said:
Honest question. If all of these smiths are getting so old... Are there vintage katos, etc out there? If so I haven't seen any older than a decade
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There are. A lot of which are nakiris. I have seen people with nakiris made by him from the 1970s.

He spent most of the 1970s-2010s making hunters and outdoor knives. Everyone knows Kato in Japan in that sphere.

For kitchen knives, he used to write one of his kanji differently in the past and if you found knives with that kanji, you know it's old.
 
dehory said:
Yes, I’ll go out on a limb and say that the OP would have more fun trying out a Tetsujin B1 (which pop up with some regularity on BST) than nerd out over the distinguishing features between two stock removal SG2 240mm gyutos.
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Haha one just got posted. Unfortunately I work in a kitchen so I like the stainless and edge retention of the stainless clad sg2.
 
Tomas Randa said:
Haha one just got posted. Unfortunately I work in a kitchen so I like the stainless and edge retention of the stainless clad sg2.
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You’ll lose some food release between the 2 knives most likely and something like Myojin will be ground thinner with higher grind. If you’re searching for something that can easily glide through dense veg and don’t mind some sticking then go for it.
I think you’ll see what I mean in this cutting demo.
 
labor of love said:
You’ll lose some food release between the 2 knives most likely and something like Myojin will be ground thinner with higher grind. If you’re searching for something that can easily glide through dense veg and don’t mind some sticking then go for it.
I think you’ll see what I mean in this cutting demo.
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I had the same reaction the first time, too, but I 💦 three times
 
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