What was your first Japanese knife

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DitmasPork

DitmasPork

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Interested in knowing what J-knife kickstarted others’ enthusiasm towards Japanese style knives. Tastes, kitchen needs, skill level, evolve over time—influencing what knives are desired and bought. My first Japanese gyuto, circa 2010, 240 Masamoto HC (from Korin), served me well, started an obsession.
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270mm Carbonext from JCK, 2010/11 I think. Sharpened it every day for 6 month for practice. Gave it away to a friend.
 
ian said:
What counts? Shuns (2008?), then Misono UX 10 (2015?), then Uraku 150 petty (2017?). All sold or gifted now.
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I think Shuns and Globals were first knives for many. I also, bought a UX10 around the same time as the Masamoto HC, should revisit it, never used the ux10 much.
 
Fujiwara FKM a few years back. Doesn't see a lot of use these days but it was enough to start me down the rabbit hole (and take off a fingertip).
 
Kai Seki-magoroku as pictured and then a Shibata Kotetsu
 

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Takeda Ko nakiri in blue 2 and iron :D
13cm of joy
or the kogatana ..I don't remember who came first.
13y ago. ( edit ... maybe 15 in fact... :/ )
 
i think it was the mac dimpled santoku. first carbon one was a jck blue moon santoku.
both of them have been given away to family.

really good knives those!
 
My first was a Shun as I recall, but not for long I didn't like the profile. I bought a Tojiro W#2 ITK 240 then the Tanaka B#2 then I just kept upgrading, buying, selling, trading to now.
 
kikuichi chef knife & petty and many misono. Still have that petty in my kit well over a decade later. The kikuichi chefs I keep more as a nostalgic piece; it's actually one of the few fully stainless knives I have left, so I'll bust it out for citrus and whatnot. The misonos all got worked to death. The misono chefs knife is all I have left and it look likes a strange boning knife.
 
DitmasPork said:
Interested in knowing what J-knife kickstarted others’ enthusiasm towards Japanese style knives. Tastes, kitchen needs, skill level, evolve over time—influencing what knives are desired and bought. My first Japanese gyuto, circa 2010, 240 Masamoto HC (from Korin), served me well, started an obsession.
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A set of 4 Masamoto gyutos have also been my first and only actively-used Japanese knives. I love them and have felt they are a very different experience from the German knives I was using before (and still do use often, actually).
 
Kikuichi blue carbon yanagiba 270mm, I used it for everything including breaking down fish when I was apprentice.
 
Single bevel, curved tip, thick-bladed paring knife, molded plastic handle, card of three for $1.95 (or whatever it was), around 1985. :)

I can't say I had a soft spot for those knives, but they did have the advantage that you could sharpen them with your teeth (so I guess they had a soft spot for me). 😎
 
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Ittosai Kotetsu aka Hattori HD aka Ryusen Bonten Unryu 210 mm gyuto. Fantastic balance of ease of cutting and food release. I haven't had purchased a knife with better OOTB fit and finish.
 
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