Steel, knife or sword making in Tokyo

15 comments

1. Unfortunately I do not know of any in Tochigi or Tokyo but there is a minshuku lodging in Omura, Nagasaki where you stay on the 2nd floor and the owner makes knives on the first floor. They will also let you try to make your own knife

2. I had a quick google and didn’t find much. But in Niigata, around 2 hours from Tokyo station (or 4 hours drive from Utsonomiya), is this place:

   https://www.tojiro-japan.com/open-factory/

   The open factory is currently closed due to Coronavirus though.

   -edit-

   I found this guy too… But no idea if he’d let you see (or help) making any of the knives. Probably worth calling him and asking:

   http://tochigi-dentoukougeihin.info/en/metalwork/motegi-no-uchihamono.html

   -edit2-
   Damn, that second website has a dedicated “hands on experiences” section, including some metal casting:

   http://tochigi-dentoukougeihin.info/en/handson/index.html

3. Have you ever done any metal work before? If not FYI, making a knife requires fairly advanced technique in smithing and honestly it’s very labour intensive. Most courses take a few weeks.

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5. This isn’t making, but as it’s nearby a visit to Kappabashi is fun, and if you’re after a good knife I highly recommend a visit to Tsubaya Cutlery. They have a lot of handmade knives there.

6. The most famous knife making towns are Sakai, Seki and Echizen, that are all rather on the Kansai side.

   Even if you go and have address of blacksmith, it can be pretty hard to see them work without some sort of appointment.

   If you want to make a knife, there is places that offer workshop. They might not be as easy to find, especially if it have to be in English, but for example this one in Chino is a 2h train from Tokyo [https://chinotabi.jp/en/activity/26/](https://chinotabi.jp/en/activity/26/)

7. Not in Tokyo but in Osaka/Sakai I visited this place I think called Jikko.

8. EDIT: sorry this was outside Kyoto, not Tokyo! sorry!

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   [https://www.japanvisitor.com/japanese-culture/samuraiknife](https://www.japanvisitor.com/japanese-culture/samuraiknife)

   My wife and I took this class when we were there. It was a super fun and informative day, we made our own little knives and he makes legit 50,000 samurai swords for families in Japan. Taro is a great teacher and his family is super nice.

   [kniveswithtaro@gmail.com](mailto:kniveswithtaro@gmail.com)

   I also bought one of his chef knives and its the best knife I have ever owned.

   [http://asanokajiya.com/](http://asanokajiya.com/)

9. In the.. north of Tochigi prefecture? What are you going there for? I lived exactly in the north of Tochigi prefecture for 4 years in Nasushiobara. Great place. If you’ll be in that area, be sure to check out Cafe Shozo, Chus チャウス which is a guest house with a little store in front, really good food, and live events some evenings (their schedule is on the internet), Unico (good burgers) up in Nasu (go north out of Kuroiso and take the left just past the bridge), and I think they JUST opened up a place called バターのいとこ which looks like a really nice little cafe up there. My friend that still lives there says they really knocked it out of the park with it.

   There’s also place right by the hospital in Kuroiso that sells NY-style pizza slices (they’re great for Japan, mediocre for NYC.. understandable 😛 ) and upstairs is a little mescal bar if it’s still open which was wonderful.

   I also have a mat sci degree. Don’t know whether it’s open now but the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology was pretty interesting. It’s half about cars and half about looms/weaving (that’s where Toyota got their start). Unfortunately, it’s in Nagoya but if you happen to have a rail pass then it’s not unreasonable to do as a day-trip from Tokyo.

   They have a room with a lot of old lab equipment which was interesting, a live sand casting demo (exciting..), and some production machines making forgings. Or pretending to make forgings. Also a bunch of stuff about cars if you like that kind of stuff.

   None of this is sword-related but uhh, there you go anyway.

10. I remember there being a few small shops at the old Tsukiji Outer Market.

11. Oh man I met a few people in Osaka who would show you their workshop and talk katanas & blades (as long as you seemed to know enough about the space where they could really dig into it with you), and they referred us to some guys in Kyoto who had a similar level of expertise and passion about whetstones;

    If you’re comfortable taking a train west for a few hours, I can hit up the friends who tracked them down and get their names & addresses

12. Not sure on where to watch the actual process but a Japanese friend recommended purchasing a knife or scissors from this place and we’ve been more than happy with our purchase. They were super helpful and everything was gorgeous. Ubukeya
    3 Chome-9-2 Nihonbashiningyocho, Chuo City, Tokyo 103-0013, Japan
    +81 3-3661-4851
    https://goo.gl/maps/d4WCj8ZtfxbbU2ydA

13. Way out of the way but Takefu Knive Village has workshops. Takefu Steel is right next to the station there so a lot of the local stainless cutlery steels (VG-1/VG-10/SG-2) are popular there [https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1021159-d7918209-Reviews-Takefu_Knife_Village-Echizen_Fukui_Prefecture_Hokuriku_Chubu.html](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1021159-d7918209-Reviews-Takefu_Knife_Village-Echizen_Fukui_Prefecture_Hokuriku_Chubu.html)

    r/chefknives might be of interest of you

14. Not in Tokyo, rather in Gifu, but I highly recommend this one: [https://www.govoyagin.com/activities/japan-gifu-make-your-own-samurai-knife-with-a-certified-swordsmith/3146](https://www.govoyagin.com/activities/japan-gifu-make-your-own-samurai-knife-with-a-certified-swordsmith/3146)

    It’s expensive, but I’ve heard rave reviews and seen multiple people who have been to it come back very happy. You can read guest reviews on the page yourself too.

    Disclaimer: I’m one of Voyagin’s founders, but left last year

15. Sakai city has many of the best knife makers in japan.

    You can go to see konosuke knives being made, among others.