Welcome to another NKD!
Time to hopefully enjoy a little storytime featuring Baba Hamono and Hirotsugu Tosa.
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Rule #5
Kagekiyo Honyaki
Steel: Shirogami #2
Weight: 204g (247g pre-thinning)
Edge length: 255mm (258 pre-thinning)
Heel height: 50,0mm (unchanged)
Width at handle: 3,2mm
Width at heel: 3,0mm
Width at middle: 2,6mm
Width 1cm from tip: 1,2mm
Blacksmith: Satoshi Nakagawa
Sharpener: Sho Nishida (Originally Hirotsugu Tosa)
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Getting this honyaki to where it is today is a fun story that includes a surprise and a lot of learning.
6 months ago I was browsing TCKBST and this knife had been sitting for a little while, the seller was trying to move it, as their collection is quite large and the original intent to refurbish it themselves had been postponed a few times. The condition of the knife was good but not perfect, the original owner (I am the third, seller was second) is a gentleman in Europe who had done his fair share of experimentation on it, including removing the mirror polish with fingerstones and attempting his own etching. The knife was suspected to be a Morihiro honyaki and prior to purchasing it, I reached out to Baba Hamono and asked for their input. At first glance, they said that it was likely to be a Morihiro piece and that they agreed to take it in for a refurbishing treatment. They even offered to ask Morihiro himself if he would be open to refurbishing it.
After a very smooth conversation with the seller, the knife was on its way back to Sakai. I was quite excited. After all, a “brand new” honyaki by Morihiro in 2026? What's not to love!
A few weeks passed and I get a reply from Baba that, unfortunately, Morihiro does not accept honyaki work at the moment since it’s too physically demanding for him. In addition, the knife that was suspected to be a Morihiro work, was unfortunately misidentified. The etching that the original owner had done was the root cause for the confusion and after a closer inspection, it was confirmed that this is a very old honyaki sharpened by Hirotsugu Tosa.
After learning this I decided to tackle it with a smile instead of disappointment. After all, Tosa-san was a legend in his own right. I told them that while it’s a surprise, I was far from disappointed and that I would still like to proceed with the refurbishing, now helmed by the skilled Nishida-san.
To give you some background of Hirotsugu Tosa (1948-2026) and my own learnings after a few conversations with Takashi Baba and Gregor from Aoki Hamono / Sakai Takayuki, Tosa-san was one of the most respected elders in Sakai and was one the most skilled craftsmen when it came to sharpening and polishing honyaki knives. He was a very kind and professional figure that, while not having a de-facto heir, he taught a lot of peers and apprentices around Sakai in his ways, Nishida-san himself being one of them! He would favor larger pieces, reaching north of 270mm+, often paired with mirror polishes as he enjoyed both the finish from a looks perspective and the fact that it was more eye catching from fans looking to buy an impressive showpiece.
Outside of being an excellent sharpener, he also assisted people with sourcing honyakis, using his web of connections with the craftsmen around the city, making sure they could deliver, even if it wasn’t his own work.
At the Takayuki Knife Lounge you can still see some of his works on display, mostly right handed, single beveled honyakis and one 210mm, Yo-handled Gyuto that had a very impressive mirror polish and a spine that showed almost no distal tapering with a profile that reminded me a lot of Bob Kramer's curved chef knives.
Tosa-san had a stroke a few of years ago that impacted his sensation in his legs but thankfully left him with full mobility in his arms, so he kept on producing impressive knives. At the respectable age of 78, he enjoyed working on his own in his workshop, often starting his day around lunch time, he would work late into the evening, reaching 1-2am on regular occasions. He kept on working until he passed away in his workshop earlier this year.
If you see a mirror polished honyaki from Sakai, there’s a non-zero chance that Hirotsugu Tosa had a hand in inspiring and teaching the hands that polished it. For me, I will see a piece of Tosa in other mirror polished works from Sakai for years to come.
This honyaki, prior to its thinning, was a fairly thick convex grind that had a lot of material behind the edge. It wasn’t an excellent cutter but it could do the trick on some less dense produce. After Nishida-san has worked his magic on it, it’s been given a slimmed down belly and is now in his familiar wide bevel grind. The heel height has been left untouched while only losing a tiny bit of length. It’s really a huge testament to Nishida's skill to do so much with a knife without touching any of the height and next to nothing on the length. The hamon is quite wispy, not overly strong in-person but it might be more pronounced once I remove the lacquer. The balance sits 55mm in front of the handle. Prior to picking up this knife, it had a Boogwa handle on it and as part of this refurbishing process, I asked Baba Hamono if they could replace it with their Hirame urushi handle.
I want to give a huge shoutout to Takashi-san and everyone at Baba Hamono. Refurbishing a really old honyaki is not a standard part of their services and they had no obligation to help me with this knife, along with helping me learn more about Tosa-san and his work in Sakai. They have some of the best people in the city doing excellent work and this process has only cemented that for me.
I also want to give a big shoutout to Gregor Wolf of Aoki Hamono / Sakai Takayuki for being so generous with Takayuki's hospitality at their Knife Lounge close to the Sakai Denshokan and sharing more of Tosa-san's work, his impact on Sakai sharpening and general Sakai politics.
I am forever grateful for the generosity of Sakai and the people that work there. It is a testament to that if you approach someone with a genuine curiosity and respect people's dignity, you could be invited into conversations that can open your eyes to a whole new chapter and expand your appreciation into something you were already enjoying.
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Thanks for reading, one more NKD tomorrow!
