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"Maestro, please make me a knife that my little son can use to sharpen his pencils at school without getting hurt by the sharp point." That was supposedly the plea of a mother to a blacksmith in Tosa. And here we have the birth of the cute little knife Kujira – a whale. This story is very popular, but we cannot guarantee its veracity. Other sources state that the southern part of the island of Shikoku (former Tosa province) is famous for whale watching, which is why such a knife began to be made there. Whichever alternative is true, the fact is that it is a practical and, moreover, nice tool for both young and old.
This cheerful knife is deceptive in its appearance. Is it a children's toy or a serious knife? Definitely the latter. The Japanese call it Kogatana – a multifunctional knife. It opens an envelope or cardboard, cuts paper, sharpens a pencil, helps in the garden, and all with a smile from its owner. At the same time, it is a good opportunity to teach your child the first steps with a real knife. Of course, under your careful supervision. The fact that this is a real Japanese knife is evidenced by its three-layer San Mai construction and a core of SK5 carbon steel from the Akiyama Seiko steelworks. Thanks to the good hardenability provided by manganese, it reaches a hardness of up to 65 HRC. The steel is also alloyed with copper, which reduces the tendency to oxidize, but the low chromium content does not make it anti-corrosion. Therefore, the knife must be kept dry and the blade treated with oil.
It is not good to believe everything you read on the websites of various sellers. Of course, the knife is not hand-forged by masters from Tosa. It is a stamped knife in the Kurouchi design, but hand-ground and sharpened. The reference to Tosa /today's Kochi Prefecture/ can be found in the form of an inscription above the waves of the ocean.
©2025 Copyright Roman Ulík, Nippon Knives, www.japonskenoze.sk all rights reserved.
Photos and texts are protected by copyright law and their use without the author's consent is not possible.
About producer
Tosa is the ancient name of today's Kochi Prefecture, which is located in the southern part of the island of Shikoku. The north of the prefecture is made up of inhospitable mountains, which towards the south pass into a fertile plain filled with countless rice fields. They are protected from possible tsunami waves by barriers built on the beaches of the Pacific Ocean. Connoisseurs of Japanese blacksmithing will not call this area anything other than Tosa.
For more than 800 years, the interlaced steel made famous by samurai swords has been forged in Tosa. It can be said that this area has become a kind of "open-air museum" of traditional blacksmithing. You will find small workshops scattered here, in which individual family generations create gems that are incomprehensible to us. It is almost a rule that father and son work in the workshop to ensure the continuity of the tradition. All kinds of blades are made here, from agricultural tools to rare knives, but in a diametrically different way than in the Seki, Sakai, or Tsubame/Sanjo areas. Knives intended for decoration were never produced here, but durable work tools. That is why knives from Tosa are sought after by connoisseurs all over the world.
Since 1919, the Hokiyama Cutlery company has been among the pioneers in improving the traditional production of kitchen knives. In accordance with the motto "the good must be preserved and, if possible, also improved", Shinsuke Hokiyama created 3 lines in his company: traditional, practical and innovative.
The traditional line /Tosa-Ichi/ consists of hand-forged blades from such masters as Takeo Murata. It is a layered steel, the core of which is high-carbon shirogami or aogami type steel. Hitachi Blue Super is used for the best pieces. The blades are most often in the unpolished form of kurouchi. Knives require care, as this material is not anti-corrosive. The practical line /Sakon/ is a symbiosis of traditional production procedures with modern materials and design. In addition to high-carbon steel, very hard powder tool steel and damascene steel are also used. Emphasis is placed on precisely processed and ergonomically tuned handles. The innovative line /Mugen/ is the pride of Hokiyama Cutlery. It adopts advances from other fields into the production of its knives. These are mainly self-sharpening knives SAKON+ with the patented Vee-Tech technology taken from the aviation and space industry.
Friendly relations with the owner of Hokiyama Cutlery, Mr. Shinsuke Hokiyama, enabled us to gradually bring you the most interesting knives from the legendary Tosa region.
©2010-2018 Copyright Roman Ulík, Nippon Knives, www.japonskenoze.sk all rights reserved.
Photos and texts are protected by copyright law and their use without the author's consent is not possible.
