About Masakage Kiri - 

When you first pick up the Kiri, you’ll notice just how light it is. The steel is hammered thinner than your average knife, which lets it fly through dense foods like potatoes and squash with ease. This knife is hand-forged from VG10, a high-carbon stainless steel that gets wildly sharp and holds an excellent edge without requiring much maintenance. The VG10 core steel is laminated with stunning layers of damascus steel, which, combined with the red and white Japanese wa handle, make for a STUNNING knife. Truly, usable art!

Yoshimi Kato is the son-in-law and successor of Hiroshi Kato, one of the founders of Takefu Knife Village. The transition from apprentice to master blacksmith and company head has been seamless for Yoshimi-san. He tells me that he strives to continuously improve his skill day-by-day, and I look forward to working with the next generation of Kato for decades to come! 

Yoshimi-san is a quiet man, calmly pushing forward at a steady pace and speaking more through his knives than his words. And boy, do they speak! Yoshimi-san’s knives are among the most gorgeous, laser-like blades I’ve ever handled.

About the Shape - This is also a multi purpose knife, but with a slight vegetable bias. Santoku means 'Three Virtues' or 'To solve Three Problems'. The virtues or problems are slicing, dicing and mincing. Santoku is usually found in 160mm - 190mm lengths. These are more and more popular in Western kitchens due to the unique shape and smaller easy to handle size.