Echigo Blacksmith, Tsukasa Hinoura is the third generation of Blacksmith family. He is creating his original knives under his name "Tsukasa" brand. He is aggressively searching his own way to express his skill and passion to the blades.

  Our first impression of his knives is the "Honed Beauty", and we can recognize his skills, times and passions behind it. It is the perfect knife with beautiful seamless line and form, no sharp corners, no distortion, no gaps etc. He devotes tremendous times from start to finish one knife for every detail.  Unlike some other forge-smiths, he never uses modern machineries and finished clad steels developed by the latest technologies, because he believes the old fashioned traditional hand works of from forge cladding, Hizukuri forming to a water tempering  can only use his experienced skills and express his soul and passion into the blades. 

  For the final finishing, he does a hand honing using the several different grids natural whetstones and spends at least two hours to polish and sharpen one blade. He says the whetstone hand honing is the best to get the sharpest edge of carbon steel blade. This is also very important work, not only to enhance total beauty of the blade appearance and function of the blade performance, but also to check the condition of the steel. He can judge to see if the steel has been treated properly by this stone polishing.   It is the essence that these time-consuming and never-compromising processes make his knives super-outstanding among many forged knives in Japan. When you hold his knife, you will see what we mean, a perfect fusion of the forged carbon steel with clad soft iron on the polished edge line with mysterious sparkling that shows a functional beauty.

 His basic blade pattern is called “Kitae-Ji” (鍛地), using Shirogami No.2 Carbon Hagane steel core wrapped and layer-forged with wrought irons. These new distinct Damascus patterns are from his forging technique to give you a visual joy as well as the highest level of craftsmanship. 

Unryu-Mon (雲流紋) clouds flow patterns

 Based on the “Kitae-Ji” pattern (His basic blade pattern is called “Kitae-Ji” (鍛地), using Shirogami No.2 Carbon Hagane steel core wrapped and layer-forged with wrought irons), the layers have been twist forged repeatedly, creating unique clouds flow Damascus patterns on entire blade surface including the spine.

 The Gyuto is the Japanese version of the classic Western Chef’s knife. It can be used with a variety of different cutting techniques to achieve a wide range of kitchen tasks and is suitable for cutting the vast majority of meats, fish, vegetables and fruits. The Gyuto is true multi-purpose knife. Compared to a Western-style handle, the lightweight traditional Japanese handle of the Wa Gyuto knife moves the balance point of the knife further towards the tip, which makes it feel more nimble and precise.

Knife Model: Tsukasa Hinoura Unryu-Mon Wa Gyuto

Blade Material: White Steel No.2 Damascus

Rockwell Hardness (HRc):

Blade Grind and Edge Shape: Double Bevel Edge 50/50

Handle Material: D Shaped Chestnut Wood Handle with Water Buffalo Horn Bolster

Saya Included: No. 

This knife comes with 50/50 double bevel edge geometry for both right and left handed use.

For your information, Japanese Kitchen knives are generally designed for right hand use with a slightly thicker and rounded grinding on the right side blade and a less rounded (almost straight flat) grinding on the left side blade. However, both right and left hander can use the knives that have double bevel edge sharpened 50/50 without problems. 

We believe the quality and cutting performance of Japanese knives are the best in the world, and hope you enjoy the fine craftsmanship and its sharp edge of your new knife. With proper cares, every Japanese knife should be your special cooking partner for a long times.

Important

This is the Carbon steel blade kitchen knife that can get rust and discolor easily, and requires extra cares and attentions to prevent rust.

• Please do not put the knife in the dishwasher machine for cleaning.
• Please do not leave the knife in water or wet condition for a long time.
• After using, please hand wash the blade, bolster and handle thoroughly, and wipe it clean and dry with soft clothes. Please apply Tsubaki oil on the blade and keep it in a dry place.
• This is an extremely sharp knife. Please use special cares in using and storing it.
• Unlike German made knives, Japanese knife blades are ground to thin cutting edge for sharper cutting and easier re-sharpening. Please protect the edge from hitting hard materials to avoid chipping or cracking.
• Please do not use it to cut bone or frozen foods, any hard shell foods such as lobster and crab.
• We recommend using Japanese whetstones to re-sharpen the knife, when it gets dull.