Japan's traditional knives long awaited debut into the Sushisushi family

May 27, 2019

Sakai Takayuki knives are joining our SushiSushi family! Sakai knives are known as one of the best knives in Japan and the Takayuki range of knives are loved by chefs all over the world. Due to the craftsmen's amazing work, it registered as national craft in 1982. Takayuki knives are created not just for chefs, rather the craftsmen think about the needs of their users and that is why Takayuki has always been the best knife brand in Japan.

Sakai is a location in Osaka where in the fifth century a large number of blacksmiths were gathered. Each craftsman focused on different tasks of the knife making process. One smith would make the steel and forge the blade which would then be sent to another craftsman for grinding. The blade will then be passed on for a handle and engraving. This would allow the craftsmen to really focus and hone their particular skill set which resulted in masterwork knives. Sakai quickly became well known as an area for high-quality knives. Surprisingly, Takayuki knives are still made this way today. Only craftsmen who pass the rigorous exams will enter their respective smiths in their field of expertise. This is why Takayuki blades are highly praised.

(photo from Sakai takayuki)

Their Damascus or pattern-welded steel knife became one of their most popular. Damascus steel is made by forge welding two different types of steel into one billet. The billet is then often folded to increase the layer count. Once the knife is made, the different steels show through as a wavy pattern on the blade, which can be seen on the picture below. (Shop from this link!)

The Takayuki Damascus is a tight wavy pattern. This is due to the 33 layers of steel that they use during the forging. They say that the tighter the layers are, the sharper the final blade will become.

We will have Nakiri, Slicer knives, petit knives. Damascus, Ginryu (silver dragon) and grand chef SP series are joining us this week! Check Takayuki knives from here

 

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