Sakai Kikumori Gokujyo By Yoshikazu Tanaka

[mrmoves92]

This is fantastic thank you for posting this. The knife looks great. I was wondering about that cladding line since it’s not clear on the site and I do agree that your grind is way thicker than what’s shown on the site. Would you say this is more of a workhorse grind? I actually recently picked up a Takada suiboku from the BTS forum but this knife is still on my list. Thanks again and congrats on the new knife.

I will attach photos that show the cladding line well/decently. Is that what you were asking about? I was able to fix my scale, and I measured the weight as 220g. I don’t know what to call the knife or grind, and everyone has a different definition of workhorse, but I will try to describe it. My knife is not quite as thin as the one on the RSK website, but it is still pretty thin overall and behind the edge. The edge bevel is very small throughout the whole blade, which indicates that it is thin. Based on the weight, grind, and how it feels while cutting. I would call this knife a light mid weight or a mid weight. I have knives that I would consider mid weight knives that wedge in apples more than this knife, and I have (what I would consider) a mid weight 240mm gyuto from Mutsumi Hinoura that is heavier than this knife. This knife smoothly slides through an apple without any wedging. I would think that a workhorse of this length would weigh at least 250g and probably more likely closer to 270g+, but that is my opinion. What do you mean when you say workhorse? Because you could just mean a non-laser convex grind.

Here are photos showing the cladding line:

 

[Slimcity_13]

Thank you, this is perfect as the pics on the site made the cladding line barely noticeable. I also saw gokujyo's on other sites where it looked like there wasn't a separation at all. The knife is beautiful congrats again. I guess the only workhorse I've had any experience with is my Mazaki. Here is the Mazaki 240 coil shot for reference.

Anyway, thanks again for this very useful information. Much appreciated!

 

[mrmoves92]

Thank you, this is perfect as the pics on the site made the cladding line barely noticeable. I also saw gokujyo's on other sites where it looked like there wasn't a separation at all. The knife is beautiful congrats again. I guess the only workhorse I've had any experience with is my Mazaki. Here is the Mazaki 240 coil shot for reference.

View attachment 178253

Anyway, thanks again for this very useful information. Much appreciated!

Thanks! I am glad that my pictures and descriptions have been helpful. In a recent Instagram livestream/video, Dustin said that the normal Gokujyo has a migaki finish without much contrast, but he ordered them with a kasumi/cloudy finish with more contrast.

I sharpened this knife yesterday because the out of the box edge was decent and definitely usable but wasn't great, and holy smokes, this knife got really sharp (I guess it is no surprise, being White #2). I cooked a bit last night and this morning with it, and it did not wedge when cutting onions in half or cutting lengthwise down small carrots. Doing the horizontal cuts on onion went pretty well, but the tip still felt a bit thick. I also noticed the thick tip while cutting garlic before mincing it. Cucumbers were really easy to cut, but they stuck to the side of the blade until they were pushed up over the spine. Looking at my midweight Wakui ku/nashiji 240mm (~200g) gyuto that I have thinned, the Gokujyo is thicker at or right behind the edge at the heel and for the first 2-3 inches in front of the heel, but the rest of the knife looks as thin at the edge as the Wakui.
Here is a choil shot of my Wakui:

Here is a picture of the Gokujyo choil after sharpening:

On second thought, I could be mis-clasifying knives. Maybe the Gokujyo is closer to mid weight. I don’t know…

I have never owned or used a Mazaki, so I cannot give you any advise about that based on first hand experience. I have held a couple of Mazaki gyutos at Portland Knife House, and I have seen numerous pictures of them online. Compared to a Mazaki, I think that the Gokujyo would probably have similar thinness at the edge at/near the heel, but the spine thickness (and maybe overall thickness) would be thinner than the Mazaki. I would think that a Mazaki might wedge a little more here (but yours looks pretty thin), but then a Mazaki might cut better than the Gokujyo in the front half of the knife near the tip because of the incredible distal taper Mazaki knives have. This is all speculation, but hopefully it is educated speculation…

I hope this helps.

 

[salparadise]

If you’re just looking for a cheap Y Tanaka then Miura Itadaki is a good value
Japanese Chef Gyuto Knife - MIURA - Itadaki Series - Sizes: 21 / 24cm

However, personally I think the sharpener makes all the difference and would recommend you try one sharpened by Yohei or Kyuzo. I always forget who those two are, but I think Myojin and Takada or maybe Yauchi?

My experience with the Miura Itadaki in White 2 was that it was a decent midweight, not very good edge retention, sharpened very easily, decent fit and finish. Solid value for <$300 if you’re ok touching up on the strop before each use.

I ordered one of these last weekend, kind of impulsive. I’m new to J-knives and wanted a white #2 daily driver to practice sharpening and using without worrying. I bought a Y. Kato AS stainless clad a month ago but don’t feel at ease with it because it’s too nice. So I’ve been using this little gem (210 gyuto) and I really like how it cuts and handles (a bit more curved). It gets really sharp easily and seems to hold the edge, although I haven’t enough experience to do pronouncements. I ordered on Sunday and used it to make dinner on Tuesday- 48 hrs from Japan.

 

[cjallen]

The knife arrived today! Dustin at RSK was great to deal with, and I definitely recommend ordering from him. Overall, the knife seems really nice, but I have some very minor complaints. I’ll describe some of my complaints and general stuff about the knife.

The kasumi finish is a bit coarse/scratchy looking, and the core steel is reflective but not as mirror-like as you might get with a Wakui or Mutsumi Hinoura knife, but the knife still looks really nice to me.

The ferrule of the handle looks like pakka wood instead of buffalo horn, like the description said, but it doesn’t bother me, and I could be wrong.

I wish that the tip got thinner. I may address this if I decide to thin and refinish the knife, but I will use this knife a lot more before deciding whether or not to do that.

The choil is really nicely rounded, but the spine could use a little more rounding, but it is not sharp or bad at all. I’ll use the knife more and see if it actually bothers me.

I have only cut up an apple with it so far. I will use the knife more and report back. The knife has a substantial feel to it while still being pretty light for its length. The balance point is somewhat far forward (at least compared to what I am used to). The choil shot looks a bit thicker than the one on the RSK website, but it is still thin. The knife cut really well and smoothly. I really liked the profile. When slicing the apple, the slices mostly stuck to the blade instead of releasing like they would have done with my Kikuchiyo Yohei ginsan gyuto. I also noticed that the knife is pretty not reactive so far. During and after cutting the apple, there wasn’t any iron or carbon steel smell from the knife, the apple slices didn’t have an iron flavor, and there wasn’t any noticeable patina on the knife. Even my carbon steel knives with stainless cladding and a good patina on the core smell a little bit during or after cutting apples. I asked Dustin if the knives have a lacquer coating, and he didn’t think so. He thought that the lack of reactivity was from the cloudy finish. I have attached a screenshot of the messages.

I asked Dustin for the tallest one that he had, and this one is around 53mm tall. Here are the specs that I have measured. My measurements of distance were taken with a ruler, so they might not be super accurate.

Length: 259mm
Height: 53mm
Weight: 220g
Spine thickness at handle/heel/middle/~1cm from tip: 3.5mm/3mm/just over 2mm/~1mm

I hope that this is helpful. I’ll try to add more thoughts once I have used the knife more. These are just my initial thoughts. Let me know if you have any questions. If you want, I can take more pictures or maybe some cutting videos (oh no! Not my poor cutting skills!) if that would be helpful.

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Do you still have this knife? RSK has 40% off right now and the 210 version is looking pretty nice at that price.

 

[mrmoves92]

Do you still have this knife? RSK has 40% off right now and the 210 version is looking pretty nice at that price.

I do still have this knife. Out of the box, the knife was a good knife, but it wasn’t amazing. I wished that it was a little thinner at/behind the edge, and I didn’t like the thicker tip or the coarse blade finish. After thinning and polishing it, I am really happy with the knife and how it cuts. I do still wish that the tip was lower. Let me know if you have any questions. For $200, the 210mm gyuto seems like a good deal, but there have recently been some bangers in BST in that price range that would also be worth considering too.

 

[cjallen]

I do still have this knife. Out of the box, the knife was a good knife, but it wasn’t amazing. I wished that it was a little thinner at/behind the edge, and I didn’t like the thicker tip or the coarse blade finish. After thinning and polishing it, I am really happy with the knife and how it cuts. I do still wish that the tip was lower. Let me know if you have any questions. For $200, the 210mm gyuto seems like a good deal, but there have recently been some bangers in BST in that price range that would also be worth considering too.

Thanks! How has the patina on the cladding been? I saw Dusty mentioned it was harder for the patina to form because of the finish.

I don't really need it at the moment, so I may just hold off until something else catches my eye.

 

[mrmoves92]

The original finish was odd. It was very slow to patina, but it still discolored onions and threatened to rust. After polishing, the iron cladding is pretty nice. It patinas nicely and quickly, does not seem too reactive or rust prone, doesn’t excessively discolor onions after some patina has formed, and the iron doesn’t have give off that really nasty smell while cutting acidic ingredients that some cladding can. The iron cladding of mine has some banding hiding in it, which is cool too.