The World of Japanese Knife Sharpening, with Craft Master Kiyu Hirose - Japan Craft Masters

Come along with me as I dive into the world of knife sharpening in Japan, to visit a knife specialist, Hirose-san, at his locally-famous shop "Sanshodo," in Otsu city, Shiga prefecture.
Please like and subscribe to help support my budding KZbin work!
If you find yourself in the area, stop by and see Hirose-san's selection of high quality domestically hand made knives at very reasonable prices.
Check out their website in English here:
hamonoya-sansyodo.storeinfo.j...
Video, music, and editing work by me, Ben Reiter.
Echizen Uchihamono's Knife Making Process:
The 19 Steps shown in the video:
1) 地金 (Jigane) - Unprocessed metal
2) 鋼 (Hagane) - Steel
3) 地金割 (Jiganewari) - Splitting the unprocessed metal.
4) 割込み (Warikomi) - The Wedging Process, where the steel part (2) is inserted into the casing of unprocessed softer metal (1)
5) 沸し付け (Wakashitzuke) - Forge Welding, where the metals are heated to a high temperature and hammered together.
6) 半型取り (Hangatatori) - Forging a half shape.
7) 中子取り (Nakagotori) - Forging the core, or tang, of the blade.
8) 二枚広げ (Nimaihiroge) - Widening two sheets, where two sheets formed in the previous steps are hammered and fused together.
9) 焼なまし (Yakinamashi) - Annealing, where the metal is heated to around 800 degrees C, and the stress points of the knife are made uniform. After that, the blade is cooled.
10) ベト落とし (Betootoshi) - Removing the pits and divets.
11) 荒ならし (Aranarashi) - Rough leveling
12) 裁ち廻し (Tachimawashi) - Trimming, where the knife is cut into its desired shape and unnecessary bits are removed.
13) 本ならし (Honnarashi) - Main leveling
14) 摺り廻し (Surimawashi) - Sanding, where a belt sander is used to create a smooth surface of the entire knife.
15) 焼入れ (Yakiire) - Tampering, where the knife is hardened by heating to a high temperature.
16) 荒研ぎ (Aratogi) - Rough sharpening, where a grindstone is used to create the first form of the blade edge.
17) 縦研ぎ (Tatetogi) - Vertical Sharpening
18) バフ研磨 (Bafukenma) - Buffing
19) 仕上げ (Shiage) - Finishing
And there you have it!

[@user-fn9ng5lz6i]

三省堂によくお邪魔している者です。 カメラ越しに三省堂を見るのは初めてで、非常に新鮮です。 また三省堂にお邪魔した時、廣瀬さんと色々喋ろうと思います。 素敵な動画をありがとうございます。

[@hamonoya_sanshodo]

この度は弊店を特集して頂き、誠にありがとうございます。ここまで本格的に編集して頂き、感服しております。またお気軽に遊びに来て下さい。 Thank you for featuring our store this time. I am very impressed with the full-scale editing so far. Please feel free to come and visit us again.

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

ご覧になって頂き、そして長い間の撮影やご丁寧な対応、こちらこそ誠にありがとうございました！！　お陰様で形にやっとなりました！凄く感謝しています。 みて頂きたい包丁はまだありますので、また行きます！

[@jefferythomas2296]

I learned a lot in just a short amount of time

[@philw8049]

I am glad to see there are still dedicated master craft folks out there. I think somehow the world would be a lesser place without them.

[@edro3838]

👍 pleasure to watch a guy who enjoys his craft

[@ratking948]

Awesome video. Im a chef in Canada and just spent a month in Kyoto. I actually did an exchange and lived in Otsu 10 years ago. Well have to check this place out next trip!

[@TheVeganeater]

In my mind the Japanese go above and beyond most in trades and everyday living.

[@rodrigo24824]

Amazing video! Talking from Brazil.

[@tjay1305]

Thanks for the video, and thank you again for English subtitles!

[@yenhoriguchi1728]

I introduced to all my friends, they all said very good 👍 I am happy for you !!!

[@djevilm]

Thank you

[@randomvideos466]

Best part of typical Japanese shop is they are set they shop into some education knowledge for customer, so they shop waiter must able to understand and explain everything about what going on in they shop.

[@HongKongHoods]

That was awesome, such a vibe surrounding your introduction to these artisans. Hirose san seemed to be a true master of his craft. Great presentation, VO and music…could watch these all day!

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

Thanks so much!! As always, I love the work you’re doing over on the other side of the pond.

[@brittcode9127]

Super cool. You can tell that Hirose-san is passionately devoted to his work. Love the shots of Otsushi too:)

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

Thanks Britt!! I appreciate it. I’ll try to get even more atmospheric scenes of the areas I film in in future videos. 😃

[@UmarRosyad]

Great documentation! Thank you for making this vid

[@gregchapman5556]

Really interesting and enjoyable video. I’ve always wanted to visit Japan. You can speak fluent Japanese do you live in Japan ?

[@Yevhe_N]

Великий Майстер! Безмежна повага до трудолюбивих людей Японії!

[@RY0329]

すごい👏

[@jacklefcourt654]

Great work Ben!!! Keep making these!

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

Thanks!! Really appreciate you watching and supporting. I plan to keep going!

[@Masterfighterx]

Jiro is a smith that does every step himself, even does lamination which very few does today. He's well over 400 knives now, but is still working on Nr 200 as he's making it from Tamahagane.

[@SacreDro]

Please make a longer series, like the prices of the knives, different handles and what they charge for a new or refurbished knife and what sharpening stones a normal user can use at home. I've seen that 1000 to 8000 grit is the way to go.

[@vn077]

Loved it, really enjoyed learning about the art of knife sharpening. Your voice is so soothing, I could listen to it for hours! Music is cool too 😎

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

Thanks so much for the kind words!! I’m admittedly still a beginner with video, but I definitely love to try to get the audio sounding good :)

[@sharpfactory3705]

Such a nice Video, as a professional sharpener myself i can say this man really knows what he is talking about, also i like how he exlpains geometry and Things to his customers with his drawing Board.

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

Thanks so much for the comment and the time. It's been so nice to hear from him that some people from abroad have stopped by the store after seeing this video. There is so much subtle depth in the sharpening process (from an observer's perspective =)).

[@vadimsp7]

fantastic video very good work!!!

[@lbtn1]

Thank you for sharing these experiences!! I am a huge admirer of Japanese craftsmen!! It would be awesome if you could add captions in English in order to follow their enthusiastic explanations!! Gracias!!

[@vicreaves3077]

Great 👍

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

Hey, thanks so much for watching and the support!! More videos like this on other crafts coming soon =)

[@vicreaves3077]

@@kansaibenjamin5874 I shared your video to my favourite Japanese knives Facebook group . It was appreciated. I hope you will be making more Japanese knife related videos in the future.

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

@@vicreaves3077 Amazing! I really appreciate it, especially at this early stage of my channel. I hope to do a feature of one of the masters in Echizen in Fukui prefecture, where Hirose-san studied, to dive into the core knife making/forging process. So please do stay tuned in the future.

[@sirich7751]

Great video. Getting a uniform polished edge like he's doing is very very hard.

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

Thanks so much for checking out the video! Trying it myself at home made me further realize how difficult it is to get that shiny uniform edge. Sharpness is one thing, but the consistent mirror edge gradient is almost impossible by my inexperienced hand. Cheers!

[@yenhoriguchi1728]

Very good 👍

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

Thank you so much!!

[@chefknivesenthusiast]

Very nice! Well made video and interesting to watch. Hiriose san gives exellent information.

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

Thanks so much for watching! Hirose had so much useful information to share it was hard to choose what to put in the video.

[@robertotapia7848]

Great video Ben!

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

Roberto! Much appreciated coming from you, dude! Thanks for checking it out =D

[@RY0329]

べんECCのりょうごだよ

[@scottholmes8374]

Awsome vid petty no subtitles

[@kansaibenjamin5874]

Thank you!! Subtitles are there; I hand translated them myself ^_^ just click on the CC button and make sure to turn on English captions!

[@cecilhoo9097]

No sub titles

[@benreiter7218]

Please try again and select English from the menu if it’s not working!

[@roospike]

It makes a complete difference understanding when you have a little background with progression of whetstone's and going through the process. Good clip. ✌😊 Meshiagare' 🥢🍽🔪