Yu Kurosaki - Change in Focus?

[jmac2022]

Wondering if anyone has any insight into what seems to be a change in focus with Yu Kurosaki and his knife production? He used to produce a greater variety of knife steels and styles (mostly Tsuchime styles I guess) and now seems to be producing mostly Senko and Gekko lines of knives. I have and very much like some of his earlier work and wonder of others perhaps know more about this seeming shift, or if I am just looking in the wrong places?

 

[Laplace]

Wondering if anyone has any insight into what seems to be a change in focus with Yu Kurosaki and his knife production? He used to produce a greater variety of knife steels and styles (mostly Tsuchime styles I guess) and now seems to be producing mostly Senko and Gekko lines of knives. I have and very much like some of his earlier work and wonder of others perhaps know more about this seeming shift, or if I am just looking in the wrong places?

Where are you located? I've noticed the opposite. It was mostly the Senko and Gekko series the past year but he's brought back the Shizuku and Fujin lines as well as releasing a carbon Senko and Vtoku2 Juhyo with bronze in the past month.

 

[jmac2022]

Hi,

I'm in the US, I guess I have not been looking around enough lately. I had noticed over the last year or two that everything I was seeing from him was the Senko, or Gekko series and wondered if he was moving away from some of the other lines. Glad to hear you are seeing more of the Shizuku and Fujin lines - both of which I have mutiple of and really like. I will have to look around more broadly now that you have highlighted that!

Thanks for the info!

 

[Dave]

Part of the problem is that Kurosaki transitioned from being a blacksmith into being a brand. A brand that is expanding and neglecting basic QC. I've owned three knives from Kurosaki at this point and the only one I considered ok in terms of F&F was the petty I finally sold two days ago. I still have a Fujin Sujihiki and the grind on it is ******* horrible, but it does the job of being flashy and being a conversation starter when company is over.

 

[dragjp]

+1, apparently chose the way to make fast cash than diving deeper into craftsmanship.

 

[jmac2022]

Part of the problem is that Kurosaki transitioned from being a blacksmith into being a brand. A brand that is expanding and neglecting basic QC. I've owned three knives from Kurosaki at this point and the only one I considered ok in terms of F&F was the petty I finally sold two days ago. I still have a Fujin Sujihiki and the grind on it is ****ing horrible, but it does the job of being flashy and being a conversation starter when company is over.

I Wondered if that might be what was going on, as it seems the Senko and Gekko lines were less about the craft and more about production - bummer as I really thought his earlier work was very good (I have some great knives from him)

 

[Dull_Apex]

Isn't the TKV model (shared workshop) all about brands anyway?

 

[aporigine]

Part of the problem is that Kurosaki transitioned from being a blacksmith into being a brand. A brand that is expanding and neglecting basic QC. I've owned three knives from Kurosaki at this point and the only one I considered ok in terms of F&F was the petty I finally sold two days ago. I still have a Fujin Sujihiki and the grind on it is ****ing horrible, but it does the job of being flashy and being a conversation starter when company is over.

Reading this, I’m grateful I never ponied up. His fancy tsuchime patterns are not for me. I didn’t realize that the sizzle/steak ratio was this bad.

 

[Tomas Randa]

Most makers have lemons. I own over 10 Kurosaki in all shapes. The fujin generally out performs the senkos. From my experience because they are thinner BTE.
The only Senko I would buy is the nakiri.
The fujins are really high performing.
Avoid Senko bunka at all cost. Worst knife he puts out. Fujin bunka is god like though.

 

[Tomas Randa]

Pic

 

[stringer]

Pic

That's a lot of Yu!

 

[jmac2022]

I have some great Kurosaki knives as well

 

[JASinIL2006]

I have a knife he made as part of the Masakage line (Shimo) that I like a lot. I sort of lost interest in his stuff when he started making all the knife lines with the overly-busy hammer patterns.

 

[Cliff]

I just have one, a basic KU AS gyuto. I haven't had it all that long. The grind is amazing, if you're ok with hollow ground. I love the profile.

 

[jmac2022]

I have a few Fujin Gyuto's and a Bunka (love the AS, performance is great and personally the look is fire on the AS Gyuto Fujin), a couple of the Shizuku Gyuto's (excellent), a Raijin Gyuto (very good), a Houou Gyuto (bit too thin), a Juhyo cleaver and a Shimo from his Masakage work. I bought a Senko out of curiosity about 3 years ago and that ended my purchases of his newer stuff.

I thought the geometry, and the grind on most of his earlier stuff was very good to great, and also loved the thinness but strength of his earlier stuff. The Senko feels like I might break it in half just looking at it. Don't have the Gekko but it looks similar to the Senko to me.

My takeaway so far is that is earlier work was very good in my opinion (I know many do not like the Tsuchime - to each their own - doesn't bother a bit) and I am hesitant to consider newer lines.

 

[Delat]

Part of the problem is that Kurosaki transitioned from being a blacksmith into being a brand. A brand that is expanding and neglecting basic QC. I've owned three knives from Kurosaki at this point and the only one I considered ok in terms of F&F was the petty I finally sold two days ago. I still have a Fujin Sujihiki and the grind on it is ****ing horrible, but it does the job of being flashy and being a conversation starter when company is over.

That sucks to hear. I had one of his original Fujin in AS and loved it. Cut as well as my Yoshikane and Shibata and gorgeous to boot.

 

[Yoshi]

So here's the deal with Yu Kurosaki

His heat treat on AS is pretty good. The grinding on the older stuff are all done by his brother.

Since his brother started his own shop, there were still a few Yu Kurosaki that were done by the brother. That's not the case anymore with the senko line.

If you have been to his workshop (both the previous one and now the new one) you will see quite a few apprentice doing all the grinding. This is why sg2 was chosen as the material, coz it just needs stamp cutting instead of laminating etc.

Yu Kurosaki himself been spending all his time doing PR stunts than actually working at the workshop. He's spent loads of time all over Asia, that's where the bulk of his market is.

Makoto Kurosaki is actually a very talented grinder. If you have tried his own brand then you'll know how thin bte he can get. Imo they were better before he got converted by his brother to do all those fancy patterns.

The crappy grinding done by his apprentice has definitely backfired a bit, and that's why he's now doing AS again to try to salvage the brand image.

 

[zizirex]

He's Pretty overrated anyway, his grind is so hollow that Ghost could take over the hollowness.
Also, he's not making any more knives, those are probably done by his 5 apprentices.