Philosophy - 馬場刃物

For all the people in the world who love cooking.

It is to pay the utmost respect to food.
It means to do the everyday work, cooking, with courtesy.
Sakai is the home of Japanese knife forging, the 600-year-old tradition.
And it is our mission to bring the sharpness nurtured here to today’s kitchens.

Since its foundation in 1969, Baba Cutlery Works is committed to Monozukuri, handcraft of highest quality.
Always have, always will, not depending on the well-established name.
Beyond tradition. For all the people in the world who love cooking.

At the start of “eat.”

In Japanese, the character meaning “eat” (食) is composed of the characters meaning “people” (人) and “good” (良). As this suggests, we think delicious meals make people smile and healthy.
Cutting process is at the beginning of such “eating” activity, and it is our desire to make this activity comfortable and stress-free.

Sharpness determines taste.

In the world of washoku, or Japanese cuisine, it is said “whether you make the most of ingredients or spoil them depends on your knife.”
That’s because how you cut foods changes the texture, which contributes to taste of the meal.
Satisfying sharpness for cooks who really care for eaters while holding a knife.

Craftsmanship

Preserve the techniques, pass them on to the next generation.

Because we aspire to continuously spread the appeal of authentic Sakai forged knives to the world, it is also our important mission to pass down the traditional skill and technique to the next generation.
Blacksmiths hammer forge steel. Sharpeners delicately create edges.

Working together in a relationship of trust to pursue even higher standard – this is our ethic.
We have conducted close inspections of malfunctioning blades and shared the result with the craftsmen to increase the accuracy of forging and sharpening.
Such efforts at improvement give us full confidence in the quality of our own products.

The Making of Sakai forged knives.

1. Forging

Blacksmiths hammer forge hagane steel and other metal, that were heated in fire over 1000℃.
This consists of many processes: hagane-tsuke (welding), sakizuke (rolling and tip forming), tanzo (forging), nakakotori (tang forming), ara-tataki (pounding), urasuki (grinding), yakiire (quenching)...

2. Sharpening

While blacksmiths do “fire work,” hatsuke-shi, or sharpening craftsmen, do “water work.”
Wielding many kinds of whetstones and tools, and using water to prevent heat from friction, they follow many steps to create the edge, including aratogi (coarse sharpening), hontogi (fine sharpening), and honing.
Eliminating even subtle distortion is another important work they do.

3. Attaching Handle

After receiving the blade from hatsuke-shi and engraving an inscription on it, its handle is attached.
Finally, it is once again honed and then it is thrillingly sharp.

Looking into the Future.

While more and more people around the world come to appreciate the genuine quality of Sakai forged knives, Sakai is suffering from aging of skilled craftsmen and lack of successors.
This led us to establish a sharpening workshop in 2017, so that we can train craftsmen by ourselves, not just placing orders to already highly skilled craftsmen.
Young craftsmen are untiringly honing their skills here, where they can learn from masters and devote themselves to genuine Monozukuri.

The Masterpiece

Works we are proud of. The best that tradition and innovation have to offer.

Kagekiyo, our flagship model, is the embodiment of our “ideal cooking knife.”
Improved to adjust to modern life, while cherishing the tradition of Sakai forged knives.
The blade with thrilling sharpness.
The handle that gives a comfortable grip and is easy to maintain.
It is as if the knife makes everything around it more beautiful.
Now the knives travel across the sea and are delivered to cooking lovers around the world.

01.

White steel forged thoroughly with fire.

For the core we’ve chosen white carbon steel (Shirogami 1), which has been used since long time ago. Gone through proper and faithful-to-tradition processes of tempering like yakinamashi (annealing), where a red-hot blade is put into a bale of straw for quenching, and yakimodoshi, where blade is reheated, the blade is consistent and strong.

02.

Edge created through rigorous procedures.

From coarse sharpening through fine sharpnening to finishing sharpenieng, nerve-racking processes produce stable sharpness.
New double bevel style with shinogi (ridge).
Kasumi honing that gives ripples-like beautiful pattern on blades is another distinctive feature.

03.

Handle by authorized craftsman.

Sakai’s familiar plain wood handles are prone to blackening, as they are originally meant to be replaced over the time of use.
That’s why we developed Urushi lacquered handle with Juntesu Momose, an authorized traditional craftsman of lacquerware, so that even overseas customers who have less opportunity to rehandle can keep their knife beautiful for long time.