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.

• Knife Type: Gyuto
• Steel Type: White #1 Carbon
• Handle Type: Octagonal Ichii
• Construction Type: Stainless Clad
• Hand Orientation: Ambidextrous

• Handle Length: 135mm
• Handle Height: 25mm
• Handle Width: 20mm
• Handle to Tip Length: 225mm
• Heel to Tip Length: 215mm
• Width of Spine at Middle:2.11mm
• Width of Spine 1cm from the Tip: 1.04mm
• Width of Spine at Handle: 3.08mm
• Width of Spine above Heel: 2.86mm
• Blade Thickness 1/2 way between the Spine and Edge: 2.29mm
• Blade Height at Heel: 52mm
• Weight:153g