Shirasagi Tsuchime Sakimaru Yanagi 300mm is a traditional Japanese knife used for preparing raw fish, especially for sashimi and nigiri sushi. Its length allows the user to slice the fish in one single pulling motion, that will – together with the razor-sharp single bevel blade – birth smooth, shiny cuts. The name sakimaru refers to the tanto tip, which is, besides looking awesome, also an homage to the katana.

Traditional Japanese knives are made from steels high in carbon content, and this is mainly for two reasons:

• due to the steels’ pure composition, the blades are able to achieve an extremely fine sharpness,
• for the same reason, once they get dull, they can be easily resharpened back to optimal shape.

Aogami #2 is one of the best in the high-carbon class, with added elements such as chromium (Cr) and tungsten (W) for improved corrosion and wear resistance, all while having an awesomely fine sharpness and being able to get resharpened easily.

BLADE SHAPE:

Yanagiba (literally ‘willow’, as its shape is reminiscent of a willow leaf) is one of the three traditional Japanese knives (others being deba and usuba), and it’s used for slicing raw fish. They have a single bevel, which can achieve a much finer sharpness – this is key if you want the cut to be as clean and smooth as possible. Yanagiba knives are usually 240-360 mm long, which allows the user to slice the sashimi in a single pulling motion to prevent any shredded, zigzag cuts that would result in damaged food tissue.

STEEL:

Aogami #2 is a very popular steel in Japanese knifemaking and one of the finest high-carbon steels, meaning the knives forged from it will have excellent edge retention and also sharpen very easily. At the same time, it is less resistant to corrosion, meaning the blade can develop a patina, while longer exposure to water or other corrosives could also lead to rusting. This is improved to some extent with the addition of chromium and tungsten, but it’s still a high-carbon steel that should be maintained accordingly (⚠️ read more about knife maintenance here). Aogami #2 steel is composed of carbon (C) 1.1 %, chromium (Cr) 0.5 %, manganese (Mn) 0.3%, and tungsten (W) 1.5%.

LAMINATION:

Ni-mai lamination method is used on single-bevel knives, where a sheet of softer metal is forge-welded onto the shinogi (front) side of the blade’s hard core. This reinforces the blade’s structural integrity and consequently makes it tougher.

GEOMETRY:

It has a single bevel blade.

BLADE FINISH:

The upper part was left untreated – we call this a kuro-uchi finish (kuro - ‘black’), which is a layer of raw, protective patina on the outer steel. It gets a nice contrast from the kanji that bears the name of the smithy, Hatsukokoro (初心). The kireha (lower part of the blade or ‘blade road’) has a classic cloudy kasumi finish.

HANDLE:

Japanese (Wa) style handle made out of wenge wood with a buffalo horn ferrule.