Daisuke Nishida has been making knives from a young age. At only 19 he started his 9 year long apprenticeship and opened his own shop in Kumamoto City, Kyushu Island, Japan, at 28 years young. Nishida-san uses traditional warikomi style forging as opposed to the more common san mai construction and works predominantly with Shirogami #1. While Nishida-san has a clear passion for hunting knives with a high level of fit and finish, he also makes more rustic, workhorse style kitchen knives. Where Nishida-san shines in our eyes is in his heat treating. He gets a lot out of his Shirogami and leaves just enough meat behind the edge that they cut well, but definitely remain on the tougher side.

The Kurouchi line from Nishida-san features a rustic deep blue kurouchi finish and mono walnut octagonal handles. The tangs have a good heft to them more similar to Sanjo style, and the grinds are super consistent. While the bevels aren't at a super high level of polish, they are in a great place to work on and feel fantastic on the stones. Being more on the workhorse side of things, these knives are a great fit for users that find themselves gravitating to more of a chopping style or someone that prefers the forward balance of a Japanese style handle but with a little more weight in the hand. A great bang for the buck knife, and a great project knife to polish or thin and play with different geometries!