Sakai Kikumori Kikuzuki KU White 2 Yanagiba 270mm.

Sakai Kikumori was started in 1926 by Kawamura Hamono, and since then has become known as a top brand from Sakai. They are a relatively small brand but work with some of the very best local craftsmen in Sakai such as Yoshikazu Tanaka, Satoshi Nakagawa and Keichi Fuji just to name a few.

The knife is forged by the legendary Yoshikazu Tanaka, who is recognized as one of the best blacksmiths in Sakai with over 50 years of experience. Tanaka works with his son in the forge where he focuses exclusively on working with white and blue carbon steel, which he does to perfection with traditional methods such as pine charcoal and rice straw during hardening.

It has a very nice and rustic kurouchi finish on the top of the blade, and further down a very nice grind starts, which makes the knife very thin behind the egg, and therefore has a fantastic cutting ability.