Kenshiro Hatono Damascus Kiritsuke 210 mm

The Blacksmith

Kenshiro Hatono is a young and very talented smith who has been working as an apprentice under Katsuyasu Kamo in the Takefu knife village for about 5 years. He is preparing to open his own business and will begin producing knives under his own name in larger quantities next spring (2024) if all goes to plan. We are very excited to have his knives in our shop and look forward to seeing him grow as a smith over the coming years. He is able to work with a variety of steels, can produce many different finishes and along with his excellent edge geometry we are expecting big things from him! 

The Shape 

The Kiritsuke is a style of Gyuto, this particular Kiritsuke is double beveled making it suitable for use by both right and left handed users. The "K-tip" or "Reverse Tanto" style tip is more aggressively shaped than that of a typical Gyuto making it more adept at intricate tasks like brunoise shallot and garlic. The Kiritsuke is an extremely versatile shape that can be used as an all purpose Chef's knife, it is adept at slicing, up and down chopping and the rock chopping motion. 

The Knife 

Featuring a very uniquely textured Japanese lacquer handle with string wrapped ferrule and beautiful layered Damascus blade this knife is a showstopper! The profile or curve of the blade is gentle so as to make an up and down or push and pull chopping motion perfectly suitable for use but it's not so flat that one can't use a rocking motion as well. It's overall a light blade and has nice blade geometry, thin at the spine and thin at behind the edge but not so much so that we would describe this knife as delicate and would highly recommend it for anyone just starting their Japanese knife journey. 

Knife Care (Stainless Steel)

• Although this knife is made from stainless steel we do still encourage our customers to keep their knives as dry and clean as possible.
• NO DISHWASHER - the high heat will ruin the wooden handle.
• Wash and dry by hand using regular dish soap and warm water using a none abrasive sponge or cloth.
• Ensure the knife is dry before being put away for storage and ensure the edge of the knife is protected to avoid any unnecessary dulling.
• Avoid Bones, Frozen foods, nuts and hard candies or anything other than fruits, vegetables and proteins.