Shigemitsu Hamono

Shigemitsu Hamono is a small family forge in Kuchinotsu, a harbor town at the southern tip of the Shimabara Peninsula in Nagasaki. Mr. Inoue learned the craft by watching his father at the forge, and when the Mount Fugen eruption of the early 1990s disrupted the family business, he spent years driving a truck before returning to rebuild the shop. Today he works alongside his son, forging and grinding blades in small runs of a few dozen at a time. Their knives are hammer forged White #2 carbon steel clad in soft iron with a rustic kurouchi finish. Our first batch arrived without handles and was fitted with octagonal olivewood handles by Akira Sato.