Zakuri 100mm Blue #2 Kurouchi Damascus Utility Knife

Asano Kajiya is a swordmaking company based out of Hashima City, in Gifu Prefecture. Asano Taro is a nationally recognized swordmaker, a very prestigious honor in an industry that is very highly regulated. He started apprenticing in the practice of swordmaking in 1997 under Fujiwara Kanefusa, a 25th generation swordmaker. Asano-san is a very involved member in the community, giving talks all throughout Japan and internationally and devoting a lot of his time to research to the sword and steel making industry. The company started making kitchen knives in 2017. The kitchen knives became a part of the business in order to showcase the workmanship of the steel that they have spent decades perfecting.

These are entirely sole-authorship knives. The blades are fully made in-house from the forging to the heat treatment to the stock removal and finish. This authorship allows them to have the most possible control over the knifemaking process. There is no pre-clad barstock to be found in the workshop. He is doing the forge-welding of the stainless cladding himself. Their kitchen knives have a very hard heat treatment that promotes edge retention and the very thin cross-sectional geometry does the same for sharpness.

These knives have a handsome, rustic, kurouchi finish that contrasts nicely with the brushed wide bevels. They come in a beautiful presentation box that elevates the knife nicely.

The Blazen wa-series features an SG2 (powdered stainless steel) core, clad in softer stainless steel with a nashiji finish. A long time ago, when I was still cooking professionally, Blazen was one of my first serious Japanese knives. Even back then, they were known for exceptional edge retention and a great distal taper. Since that time, they have gotten better. When visiting Echizen on one of our Japan trips, we met with Ryusen Hamono, the maker of Blazen knives. Their commitment to excellence in grind quality, fit and finish, and consistency in each line they made was most impressive. Likewise, it was clear they took great care and pride in each step of the knife making process, which they do entirely in-house. From the forging to the heat treating to the product design and packaging, they had smart, well thought out processes in place. Ryusen used to be one of the most popular OEM makers in Japan, as they had an excellent reputation for the knives they produced. More recently, they have stopped all OEM work to focus on their own brand. With this shift in philosophy, they have redoubled efforts to constantly make improvements to their various series (profiles, grinds, fit and finish, forging, heat treating, etc.). This is extremely apparent in their most recent offerings. They have done an excellent job at both researching on their own, as well as eliciting in-depth feedback from professional chefs and customers. Their business philosophy is such that they are open to new and better ways of doing things at every step of the way. We are proud to be Ryusen's sole official dealership for the Americas.

The Blazen wa-petty has a very thin kiritsuke-style tip. The blade is very thin behind the edge and overall lighter-weight compared to the Western handle version due to the walnut handle. They cut rather well and have amazingly good edge retention. While the steel is hard, the heat treatment method they are using works extremely well and creates an edge that sharpens easily and takes a very nice edge. The spine and choil are rounded, and the level of comfort on the handle and blade is indicative of the level of care that goes into each knife. 

The Blazen series features an SG2 core (a powdered stainless steel), clad in softer stainless steel. A long time ago, when I was still cooking professionally, Blazen was one of my first serious Japanese knives. Even back then, they were known for exceptional edge retention and a great distal taper. Since that time, they have gotten better. When visiting Echizen on one of our Japan trips, we met with Ryusen Hamono, the maker of Blazen knives. Their commitment to excellence in grind quality, fit and finish, and consistency in each line they made was most impressive. Likewise, it was clear they took great care and pride in each step of the knife making process, which they do entirely in-house. From the forging to the heat treating to the product design and packaging, they had smart, well thought out processes in place. Ryusen used to be one of the most popular OEM makers in Japan, as they had an excellent reputation for the knives they produced. More recently, the have stopped all OEM work to focus on their own brand. With this shift in philosophy, they have redoubled efforts to constantly make improvements to their various series (profiles, grinds, fit and finish, forging, heat treating, etc.). This is extremely apparent in their most recent offerings. They have done an excellent job at both researching on their own, as well as eliciting in depth feedback from professional chefs and customers. Their business philosophy is such that they are open to new and better ways of doing things at every step of the way. We are proud to be Ryusen's sole official dealership for the Americas.

The Blazen series has a decently tall blade height, a very thin tip, is thin behind the edge, but has some weight to it, due to the spine to edge and distal tapers. They cut rather well and have amazingly good edge retention. While the steel is hard, the heat treatment method they are using works extremely well and creates an edge that sharpens easily and takes a very nice edge. The spine and choil are polished, and the level of polish on the handle and bolster is indicative of the level of care that goes into each knife. Also, every Blazen knife comes with a black saya, featuring magnets internally to help keep the saya in place, with or without a pin.

 The Bontenunryu series features a VG-10 core, clad in stainless Damascus steel. A long time ago, when I was still cooking professionally, I used knives from Ryusen. Ryusen used to be one of the most popular OEM makers in Japan, as they had an excellent reputation for the knives they produced. More recently, the have stopped all OEM work to focus on their own brand. With this shift in philosophy, they have redoubled efforts to constantly make improvements to their various series (profiles, grinds, fit and finish, forging, heat treating, etc.). This is extremely apparent in their most recent offerings. They have done an excellent job at both researching on their own, as well as eliciting in-depth feedback from professional chefs and customers. Their business philosophy is such that they are open to new and better ways of doing things at every step of the way. When visiting Echizen on one of our Japan trips, we met with Ryusen Hamono, the maker of Blazen knives. Their commitment to excellence in grind quality, fit and finish, and consistency in each line they made was most impressive. Likewise, it was clear they took great care and pride in each step of the knife making process, which they do entirely in-house. From the forging to the heat treating to the product design and packaging, they had smart, well thought out processes in place. We are proud to be Ryusen's sole official dealership for the Americas.

The Bontenunryu series is a medium weight western handled series.  While they aren’t super lightweight in hand, they aren’t heavy… they have a great in-hand feel. The Damascus cladding very elegant, and the fit and finish on the blade is very nice. The western style handles are also extremely well finished. The knives have nice distal taper and are ground quite thin at and behind the edge, with a medium thickness along the spine (by no means thick). The VG-10 core is exceptionally well heat treated, as they use molten salt baths in the process, which we agree is an excellent way to go about heat treating this steel. This series also comes with a black wood saya.