Kitchen knife by Mitsuboshi-hamono
MID-RANGE KITCHEN KNIFE THAT SATISFY BOTH GENERAL AND PROFESSIONAL.
Mitsuboshi-hamono (cutlery) is a company of kitchen knives in Seki city. The company was founded in 1873, being over 140 years of its history.
As you may already know, Seki is the most famous place of knives. The origin of the place goes back to late 12th century, called Kamakura era. Legendary swordsmith, Motoshige Osafune moved to Seki because the place had good quality blade clay, pine charcoal, and water from Nagara and Tsubo river.
Inevitably, Seki had been the capital of Samurai sword (Katana, 刀).
The geographical and cultural heritage was inherited to reputation of Seki's kitchen knives as of now. So, you will find many cutlery companies in Seki.
Mitsuboshi-hamono is one of them but one that is outstanding. The knives are very easy to handle because they are light.
Grips are made with perfect line of carve that fits perfectly, almost feel like a part of you. Blades are made with 440 molybdenum steel. (Generally, molybdenum steel's HRC is 56 to 58. And hardest material is "Aohagane" which of its HRC is 64 to 67.)
The reason why Mitsuboshi doesn't use hardest material is because such hard material is difficult to sharpen at home. The company's policy is to sale knives that can be maintained easily.
Highly skilled craftsman play outstanding role in many process of manufacture.
All knives made by Mitsuboshi is hand-finished by craftsman. Although they are not mass produced by machines, price range is friendly to consumers. Let's have a look.
Santoku knife, (三徳).
Price: ¥10,800
Blade size is 180mm. This knife is balanced type, being suitable for cutting vegetable, meat and fish.
Petit knife, (ペティ).
Price: ¥8,640
Blade size is 155mm. The easiest type to handle. Suitable for cutting fruits and vegetables. I use this knife for everything except for cutting a chunk of meat.
Gyuto knife, (牛刀).
Price: ¥11,880
Blade size is 205mm. Suitable for cutting chunk of meat and larger vegetables.
Cheese knife, (チーズナイフ). Price: ¥8,640
Blade size is 130mm. New product of Mitsuboshi. It plays splendid role in cutting both soft and hard cheese. Cuts hard cheese such as parmesan in straight line. Gooey ones such as blue cheese is cut without leaving bits on surface of the blade.
Another feature of this knife is as it seems; it stands on own.
Makie series, (Makie). Price: TBC
Cake knives that its grip is decorated and painted by craftsman. Soft fluffy sponge cakes will be cut without being squashed.
"Makie" (蒔絵) is one of Japanese traditional crafts. It uses powder of gold and silver on lacquer. Each of this beautiful design is drawn by hand.
I bought a set of petty and santoku knives. This cost me ¥18,000. Let me show you through.
Both outside and inside package are neat. Cool.
Inside a small booklet, there is a one-time free ticket for sharpening. Unfortunately, this service is limited domestic shipment.
Nicely packed seems more expensive than the price I paid.
440 molybdenum stainless steel. Balanced steel for both easy-sharpening and high cutting ability.
Each knife has a mark says "MITSUBOSHI SINCE 1873." Shows their pride in their high quality products.
And, how they do. Well, I made a video to compare sharpness of ordinal knife and Mitsuboshi knives. Check out.
It was simply amazing how Mitsuboshi's knives cut through things. Maintenance of kitchen knives are not hard if you bought Mitsuboshi's knives. Can easily done with newspaper and sandpapers.
Price is fairly friendly, too.
Petty knife cost ¥8,000 + TAX and Santoku knife cost only ¥10,000 + TAX. Smaller knives are easily handled by person with small hands, or by anyone who has a lot to cut or slice, stress by using for long period is much less.
As mentioned earlier, another feature of Mitsuboshi's knives is easy to maintain, to sharpen. The below video show you how to maintain by using newspaper, sandpaper and whetstone.
Mitsuboshi sent me a link that is publication of their cake and bread knives in English. There is also a story book in pdf format you can download. Check it out.
Here's direct link to the pdf.
The publication describes many so-called "local-creators" in detail. You'll get know about wide range of craftsmanship in Japan.
Where to buy: "Mitsuboshi-hamono"
Mitsuboshi's knives can be found in some stores of TOKYO HANDS, LOFT and other stores. English web page doesn't seem to have store list in English. So, I used google translate service on Japanese web for your reference. Scroll it down to see the list.
Mitsuboshi-hamono official site. (Google translated)
Mitsuboshi-hamono official site. (Japanese)
Mitsuboshi-hamono official site. (English)
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