Kagekiyo - White#2 270mm Yanagiba - Urushi

Kagekiyo is a premium brand made by skilled craftsmen at Baba Cutlery Works in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, an area known for its traditionally hand-forged Japanese knives. The knives are forged from quality steels such as Shirogami and Aogami. Skilled craftsmen grind the blades to exceptional sharpness and combine them with specially designed handles that are tailored to enhance the functionality and aesthetics of the knives.

Blacksmith Satoshi Nakagawa is a relatively young blacksmith from Sakai who has quickly gained a reputation as one of the most talented craftsmen in the famous knife town. He started as an apprentice to Shiraki Hamono, who was 18 years old after working at a sushi restaurant where Shiraki-san always came. Nakagawa was an apprentice for 8 years and then took over the forge when Shiraki retired.

The sharpener of this knife is none other than Sho Nishida, who is Baba Hamono's in-house sharpener. Nishida-San started as a chef in his father's sushi restaurant at the age of 20, but began to apprentice under the legendary sharpeners Morihiro and Hirofuji at the age of 30. He has over time become really good and known for his shinogi/wide bevel sharpening as well as mirror polish and honyaki sharpening, which requires a high level of skill.

Shirogami 2 or White 2 is a carbon steel, is in the category of so-called white steel, and Shirogami 2 is the second hardest of these alloys. Shirogami 2 is among the purest carbon steels from Japan, and for this reason it can be incredibly sharp, and is very easy to sharpen.

A Yanagiba is a traditional Japanese knife used for carving fish, AKA "sashimi knife"

The knife should never be washed in a dishwasher, and should not be used to cut hard objects such as bones, cartilage, frozen objects, or hard cheeses. Remember that it is a characteristic of thin, hard metal that it can break.