About Masakage Shimo -

This line was dubbed Shimo (‘frost’ in Japanese) because Kurosaki-san can manipulate his damascus steel to create X-shape patterns that resemble frost on a window. Shirogami, or ‘white carbon’ in English, is a very traditional steel prized by blacksmiths and knife nerds alike for its great edge retention and legendary sharpness. The stark black and white handle is really the icing on the cake that completes the eye-catching design of this knife.

Yu Kurosaki began his blacksmithing career in 2002 at Kanehiro Uchi Hamono, where he apprenticed with Hiroshi Kato. Kato-san taught him well, and Kurosaki-san is now recognized as a master himself. He told me he wasn’t a natural at first and struggled for a long time, but his first sale inspired him to keep at it. We’re all glad he did. Kurosaki-san has since become best known for his wildly creative blades and finishes that are as much art as they are high-performance kitchen tools.

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.