a very sharp blade,nice handle,and good looks make this knife unbeatable.

The knife has an attractive rustic look to it. It is not very sharp out of the box. It could not shave arm hair or push cut a paper. While I was sharpening it,I realized its bevel is not flat with minor high and low points. As Dave Martel would say,it has a wavy edge. It was minor and I was able to flatten some of the high points.



Once the new bevel was put on,it became very sharp. Currently I have a back bevel at 5 degree and an edge bevel at 10. It retains its edge well and the aogami (blue) steel provides some rust resistance. Great steel for a low price.



Overall,I am very happy with this purchase. However,I would not recommend this knife to anyone who wishes a ready-to-go knife.

A Friend of mine bought this recently on my recommendation. This is a great little knife. Light. VERY thin. The handle is pretty rough but it wont splinter you or anything. For $45 this knife is a steal. The blue steel will take a ridiculously keen edge and with this knife’s thinness after a few sharpenings will feel like a lazer. There is a lacquering on the edge. All in all a great deal on blue steel.

This is my first Japanese knife,and I must say its a steal. Out of the box the edge was way sharper than the best German knife I’ve ever used (better than a Henkel Santouku costing 4x as much). This knife will take an even sharper edge than it has out of the box too. I love the kurouchi finish on this knife,since a nakiri is meant to be a rustic,home use knife. The blade is also beautifully thin and light,it handles like a dream for slicing and chopping vegetables.

This is a pretty cool knife,unfortunately for me it is to similar to my chef knife,but I like it a whole lot non-the less,and for the price it cannot be beat.

I am very pleased with this knife,for the price and attractiveness. I find the carbon steel difficult to work with because of the rust factor,and though the knife steel keeps a great edge it chips easy. If I didn’t like the kurouchi finish so much I might have thought to consider the Dojo,for $10 more. The knife was build for a single bevel edge,and now that I’ve managed to get the bevel correct the chipping problem seems to have vanished. Though I feel I have to treat it delicately,which can be troublesome in a busy professional kitchen,such as the one I work in; I’ve gotten the blade razor sharp,which makes it a pleasure to work with. Also,The handle comes relatively untreated so you need to treat with with some oil so it doesn’t discolor.



I absolutely love this style of knife,the handling and balance are great.



I wouldn’t recommend this knife for a novice to knives,nor to someone who did not have some decent knife sharpening skills. The design on the ferrule sticker shown in the picture peels off. Overall,it’s a fantastic knife for the price,and as always great service and fast shipping from Mark.

Overall I really like this knife. It’s a pretty good value at the price. Here’s my impressions of the knife.



First,the minuses; the fit and finish on this one is mediocre at best. It’s a very cheap knife so you sort of expect it yet the Tojiro Shirogami knives are even cheaper but way better put together. Also,this blade wasn’t flat. The tip was a bit out true and and the whole thing had a slight warp. Of course,part of that is because this is among the thinnest knives I’ve ever seen! All in all it didn’t take a lot of work to get it in shape,but the buyer should realize it’s a bit of a DIY project. And lastly it wasn’t very sharp OOtB (at least by my standards).



Oh,but the pluses! I already mentioned this one is thin but you probably won’t believe how thin til you see it. Sure,it’s a tad thicker at the handle but this thing doesn’t wedge at all and just falls thru root veggies...like a nakiri should. The main draw is the steel. Once you get things all trued up it takes a spectacular edge. I polished mine up on J-nats up to about what you’d call 25k in synthetic terms and it ate it up. There aren’t many knives I’ve found that get a lot sharper.



The Tanaka is very thin and light,and a terrific cutter. It’s a bit rough around the edges but a great value for he the price. The fact that it needs a bit of work OOtB means it’s maybe not ideal for the nOOb which is unfortunate; at the price it will probably be a 1st carbon/J-knife for many. The Tojiro might be a better bet for one good to go OOtB.



I give it four stars. The more I use it the more I like it. Aogami steel is quite addictive!

Awesome knife! It’s become my go to veg prep knife,a good work horse. Mind the thin blade,while flying through some green onions I torqued the knife a little and chipped off the tip of the blade. brought it to a knife making friend for a quick fix and he looked over the steal like it was knife porn haha. This baby is back at it,working like a dream. Can’t beat the price!

I’ve had one of these I have been using for the past few weeks. OOTB,the edge was decent,but not polished as is the norm for most Japanese knives. No problem for me! 1200 Bester,Rika 5K and Ozuka Asagi stone put an incredible edge on this knife! Blew away my other carbon Nakiri that cost 3 times what this one did! The Kurouchi is real and not just a coating on the steel. For the price,you can’t beat it!

Great knife for the price,takes a screaming edge and holds it. Nice cheap viable addition to my collection

This knife is amazing.

It did not come very sharp out of the box but with a little help from some stones and some stropping it became incredibly sharp. The edge does not last an extremely long time but it is incredibly easy to maintain,just throw it on the strop for a few strokes and it is back in business.

The bottom line is,this knife is a great bang for buck if you can sharpen a knife well.

The handle sucks,but it does the job,so who cares.



Buy this knife,dont think twice,just do it!

Great knife. It needed to hit the stone right out of the box to put a edge that I prefer on it. For the pricei could not ask for a better knife.