Sakai Kikumori Nashiji

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Ha. I was searching this, too, after seeing the Bernal post in IG yesterday.
 
There should be a little info around here on these guys. I remember reading their pretty thin knives. Tall etc. Probably not bad. If that’s your thing.
 
I've been trying to use this downtime to build a working roll and have been trying to pick out a gyuto for a week or two now, and it's been a lot of trying to tell myself the western handle on the Nihonko will be fine for a work beater.

But I want a wa...I had a bad experience with a poorly taken care of VG10 house knife, so I should probably just skip that line and double or triple what I wanted to spend and go with White 1 or Blue 2 then right? RIGHT?!? I also don't want to be the guy whose roll outshines his abilities, so there's a lot of trying to talk myself down.

The madness is real. Point being, I haven't had a ton of luck finding deep info on any of their lines, so thanks for making a thread related to the thread I've started and erased like 4 times in the last week 😂
 
Hell, my roll outshined my abilities and then I practiced until that was no longer true. Then I leveled up with knives and did that cycle again. Now I’m probably doing it again in another way with cleavers - being a cleaver guy is only any good, after all, if you can at least match what you can do with pointy knives... but I’m getting there.

Those tall Kikumori do look interesting, a blue nashiji might be my next gyuto but I’ve got no knowledge on them yet.
 
I'm late to the game here, but someone has to know about these knives. Tall, thin, ss clad and blue? @ 7.8oz it's near Mazaki territory. If the profile was different, i'd ask is this a Masashi in blue #2?
 
@DoubleJJ
Alrighty, so I have one of these in my possession currently. I joked it was like a Takeda and Nashiji Tanaka had a baby. Now, I would say its more like an extra tall Yoshimi Kato- Kanehiro nashiji gyuto. The clad line is very similar. The core steel is lightly polished. The blade road has that dumb bead blast, and although the spine and choil are nicely eased, they don't have the high polish of the Yoshimi Kato. Nashiji is nearly identical, but a bit darker.

Now, my example is a full 60mm tall X 243mm long. About 4mm thick at the handle/ 3mm over the choil/ sub 2mm halfway/ sub 1mm at the tip grind; so there is some nice taper here. As with the Yoshimi Kato it is ground thin, infact the extra 10mm means a very high grind line and an extremely thin edge and almost delicate tip. Thin behind the edge gets thrown around a lot these days. This thing truly is thin.

How it's similar to Takeda, at least the older-non santoku shaped variants, is that the upper blade face actually has some light concavity. It is a pretty stunning grind.

I used it pretty heavily for a full shift today. ootb edge was very good. Zero chipping. Broke down 2 cases of airline breasts, about 20 sides of salmon, 3 tenderloin, a ribeye, and tons of veg prep. Stayed sharp throughout the day.

In comparison to the Matsubara, it is taller, more pronounced distal taper, and a much higher and better grind.

I don't want to exaggerate my pleasure but damn... If you're on the fence, do it!

Also, my experience with Craig at CKC was top notch. Hand picked me a thin and neutral grind and sent a hand written thank you note with a sticker! I'm a sucker for a sticker.
 
Last edited:
A note on the stock handle. It is nicely tapered to the ferrule, crisp and well chamfered. The wood is light and silky smooth. Resisted water and staining, but is softish and not impervious to scratches and dents. I realize some like magnolia; alas this excellent example will join others in the bin as there is a nice block of snakewood skewed to take it's place.
 
@DoubleJJ
I don't want to exaggerate my pleasure but damn... If you're on the fence, do it!
Still in love with the Kikumori Nashiji? I'm soo close to pulling the trigger. I sold a Mazaki 240 to clear some space. I just didn't get that knife at all. To me it was all chopping power with refinement only in the front 1/4 section. I think for a Mazaki Kasumi to work for me, i'd have to spend a bunch of dough to get it thinned. Essentially changing the knife.
 
Got this bad boy/girl today and it’s pretty impressive. Hopefully I’m not repeating Nochop since his description is great and helped me pull the trigger. I got a small one- 240ish and 58mm (57.86) tall 6.8oz. I initially was let down on the profile- it’s quite curvy from front to back. Maybe it’s a she... I definitely like flattish knives. It’s not one of those. It’s even got a bit of an up kick on the back edge.

IMG_6225.jpg


IMG_6226.jpg


The grind is really thin (below). The difference between the Mazaki kasumi and this pup is quite extreme. The Mazaki is thin at the edge but quickly widens out for good separation and power whereas the Kikumori stays thin and most of the height of the blade giving the feeling of precision and controlled power. Also mentioned is the concavity in the darker hammered area (1st picture).

IMG_6231.jpg


The weight of the kikumori is deceptive-it’s no light weight and for whatever reason it doesn’t feel heavy. Could be the huge chunky handle. Balance point is a good inch and a half forward from the heel, so you gotta snuggle up the spine to get that centered feeling.

i did quick demo (home cook)- I threw down some mushrooms, apples, nectarines, basil and garlic. Later i tried carrots length wise. Wow wow. This is a beast with some finesse behind it.

I was amazed at how easy it was for me to adjust to the shape. Perhaps it’s the gentle slope after the nose. We’ll see how this goes a couple of months from now. I might be into curves...
 
Holy necrothread, Batman! ;)

Thought of reusing this thread as I am looking for a gyuto discussed in this thread. More specifically, a 240 mm Aogami #2 core ss clad Sakai Kikumori Nashiji gyuto.

Anyone know of retailers who would carry those in Europe? I know a few in the US/Canada who occasionally get that exact make and model but would love to find someone that was closer/within EU (would be open for a private/2nd hand purchase also but can't yet post on the B/S/T forum).

This basically stemmed from me looking for a similar gyuto from Matsubara and finding the Sakai Kikumori ones a bit more to my liking (a bit cleaner, a bit taller, etc.). Both have been out of stock for a while now, everywhere I have looked... :(
 
Holy necrothread, Batman! ;)

Thought of reusing this thread as I am looking for a gyuto discussed in this thread. More specifically, a 240 mm Aogami #2 core ss clad Sakai Kikumori Nashiji gyuto.

Anyone know of retailers who would carry those in Europe? I know a few in the US/Canada who occasionally get that exact make and model but would love to find someone that was closer/within EU (would be open for a private/2nd hand purchase also but can't yet post on the B/S/T forum).

This basically stemmed from me looking for a similar gyuto from Matsubara and finding the Sakai Kikumori ones a bit more to my liking (a bit cleaner, a bit taller, etc.). Both have been out of stock for a while now, everywhere I have looked... :(
I just bought a 210 of this in Europe. Google Moes in Amsterdam. They don't have a Webshop but communication was a charme.
 
Back
Top