About Hado Sakai Sumi - This Sumi line is an exciting collaboration between HADO and Knifewear. They approached us looking for new ideas and loved our design suggestions: black ‘kurouchi’ surface with a nicely polished ‘spine,’ or back of the knife, and ‘choil,’ as the junction of the blade and handle is called by knifenerds. The result is a knife that feels incredibly refined while maintaining a rough, handmade aesthetic. The traditional white carbon steel requires care to avoid rust but gets blazingly sharp—seriously, it’ll blow your mind the first time you use it.

The single piece of oak used for the handle is an excellent addition to the knife; it feels great in hand and looks stunning.

While the blacksmith handles the forging and hardening to ensure the knife keeps a crazy sharp edge for a long time, the sharpener uses their mastery of steel grinding and polishing to turn a raw piece of forged steel into a precision tool.

Nomura-san of HADO is one such master sharpener. HADO sources expertly crafted blades and refines them into kitchen scalpels. When sharpening, Nomua-san and his team always have the end user in mind, shaping blades so they get incredibly sharp, keep their edge as long as possible, and are truly impressive to cut with.

About the Shape - The Ko Bunka is a smaller version of a Bunka. Any guesses on what “Ko” means in Japanese? You nailed it! It translates to “small.” This little knife is awesome because it still gives you knuckle clearance on the cutting board. Making sure you can mince garlic and comfortably chop veggies. A badass love child of the Bunka and Petty knife, it works for smaller jobs in the hand or as an all-purpose blade.