The Fugen line is made for CKTG by the team at Yoshimitsu Hamono in Nagasaki, Japan - put together well and offered at a genuinely budget-conscious price. Fugens are a great entry point into Japanese knives, whether you are a line cook or a home cook making the transition for the first time.
The inner core is Shirogami #1, clad san mai style with a soft iron laminate finished in kurouchi, which both protects the blade and adds to its look. White #1 is a resilient steel that resists chipping, sharpens easily, and takes a genuinely fine edge on the stones. At roughly 210mm blade length, this gyuto handles just about any cutting, chopping, or slicing task a kitchen demands, with a tall profile that adds extra finger-to-board clearance. The burnt oak octagonal handle, now a one-piece design with no ferrule, rounds out a knife that is a strong entry point into Japanese cutlery.
What Customers Are Saying: One reviewer says the handle is not the most balanced but calls the knife well worth the money regardless, praising how easily it hones and sharpens. A second simply calls it a great knife at a very good price. A third, a working chef, had all of his Fugens rehandled in cherry and black pakka wood and reports the upgrade transformed both the look and feel - notably, the smith doing the rehandling tested the edge first and decided no thinning or sharpening was needed at all, a good sign for the quality of the factory grind.
Care Instructions: White #1 is a highly reactive carbon steel and will patina quickly with use. Wipe and dry the blade immediately after every use. Hand wash only. Apply camellia oil for long-term storage.
The inner core is Shirogami #1, clad san mai style with a soft iron laminate finished in kurouchi, which both protects the blade and adds to its look. White #1 is a resilient steel that resists chipping, sharpens easily, and takes a genuinely fine edge on the stones. At roughly 210mm blade length, this gyuto handles just about any cutting, chopping, or slicing task a kitchen demands, with a tall profile that adds extra finger-to-board clearance. The burnt oak octagonal handle, now a one-piece design with no ferrule, rounds out a knife that is a strong entry point into Japanese cutlery.
What Customers Are Saying: One reviewer says the handle is not the most balanced but calls the knife well worth the money regardless, praising how easily it hones and sharpens. A second simply calls it a great knife at a very good price. A third, a working chef, had all of his Fugens rehandled in cherry and black pakka wood and reports the upgrade transformed both the look and feel - notably, the smith doing the rehandling tested the edge first and decided no thinning or sharpening was needed at all, a good sign for the quality of the factory grind.
Care Instructions: White #1 is a highly reactive carbon steel and will patina quickly with use. Wipe and dry the blade immediately after every use. Hand wash only. Apply camellia oil for long-term storage.
- Maker: Yoshimitsu
- Brand: Fugen
- Construction: Hammer Forged, San Mai
- Edge Steel: White #1
- Cladding: Soft Iron
- HRC: 61
- Edge Grind: Even
- Weight: 5.7 oz (162 g)
- Blade Length: 215 mm
- Total Length: 352 mm
- Spine Thickness at Heel: 3 mm
- Blade Height: 52 mm
- Handle: Oak Octagonal, One-Piece, Burnt Urushi Finish
Reviews
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worth
Fantastic Deserves rehandling!Posted By: Mark Kirkwood
25 people found this review helpful
I've had all my Fugens re-handled with octagonal cherry + black pakka wood ferule. The difference in clean appearance and pleasantness to use is simply stunning. It is probably worth getting one of the customs advertised on this site if you don't have a tame knife smith on hand.
Note that the knife smith did moan a bit about the smoothness of the tang(s) making re-handling difficult, so we had to have a discussion about it being ok to sand/grind them as required to make it work. The final result was very good. Funny, he also offered a sharpening and thinning service...until he did a test cut with the gyuto and announced that the edge was 'very good' and thinning 'was in no way required'. The blades on these knives are good!
25 people found this review helpful
I've had all my Fugens re-handled with octagonal cherry + black pakka wood ferule. The difference in clean appearance and pleasantness to use is simply stunning. It is probably worth getting one of the customs advertised on this site if you don't have a tame knife smith on hand.
Note that the knife smith did moan a bit about the smoothness of the tang(s) making re-handling difficult, so we had to have a discussion about it being ok to sand/grind them as required to make it work. The final result was very good. Funny, he also offered a sharpening and thinning service...until he did a test cut with the gyuto and announced that the edge was 'very good' and thinning 'was in no way required'. The blades on these knives are good!
