Sakai knives, six hundred years of edges

When Japan outlawed sword wearing in 1876, the swordsmiths of Sakai, a port city south of Osaka, turned their steel to kitchens. They had been forging blades since the 1400s; the tobacco knives they made for the Edo shogunate were already famous for holding an edge.

A Sakai knife is usually single bevel, ground on one side only, which is why sushi chefs prize them: the flat back releases each slice cleanly. The work is still split the old way between three craftsmen: one forges, one sharpens, one fits the handle, and the blade carries the maker's name.

Chefs fly to Japan to buy them; the forges on 1VIM ship the same blades with the landed price shown before you pay. A knife is a lifetime purchase, and it should come from the city that has been making them for six hundred years.