I Bought My First Japanese Knife on Tokyo's 'Kitchen Street' (Kamata Knife Shop in Kappabashi)

**I am in no way affiliated with Kamata, I simply think they're a great shop to buy your knives from!**

I am by no means an expert when it comes to Japanese knives, so I thought it would be a good idea to go somewhere that could help me choose my first Japanese knife! The staff at Kamata in Asakusa were very friendly, and I am so happy with the gorgeous knife I ended up buying for 14,000 yen. (Though prices may change!)

Skip to:
0:00 - Intro to Kappabashi and Kamata
2:18 - What knife I thought I needed
2:50 - What I actually needed
3:23 - A word from Mr. Kamata
4:07 - The knife I bought
6:05 - Comparing to my old knife

I would like to say a big thank you to Kamata for letting me film in their shop and for helping me choose an amazing knife!
鎌田さんたち、素敵な包丁をお勧めしていただき、お店で撮影させていただき、心より感謝申し上げます。これからもよろしくお願いいたします！

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#JapaneseKnife

[cassandra_lord]

This is my most popular video, so tell me what other topics you would be interested to hear about that could be as helpful as this one!

[Runswithfathog]

The Japanese always master quality in whatever they do, it’s impressive.

[vista]

Thanks for the video Cassie. It’s exactly what I was looking for. I’m coming to Japan later on this year and I will definitely look that store up.

[jcloiseau]

haha I bought 3 knives already from Kamata and they are great! I miss not being able to come to Tokyo in person because their online shop doesn't have all their inventory from the shop :)
Kamata is definitely the most approachable shop on the street, along with Kama Asa :)

[robd]

I went here the other day and the staff was really helpful and nice. Will definitely come back next time I visit Japan.

[snakbyteMike]

That's awesome! I like how they engraved your name in it

[resuscitationpicture]

Thank you very much for the rewiew and congrats for your choice! After I did my homework I knew I wanted a funayuki. Well... the shop clerk asked twice if I am sure about this, knowing that a western guy will not know how to handle such kind of knife. What an awesome blade, but I never use it because I am so afraid of it gets stained.

[angelamaganda]

You have a Tokyo creative feel in your video.

[Arunandami]

I started with santoku. U r on right track

[veetour]

Japanese knives are the best in the world. I think you made a great choice with the stainless santoku. If you enjoy having a sharp edge all the time and are keen on doing your own sharpening, you might consider a honing rod to start off with.

[kaleidoscuts]

showing the knife, looking like a crazy person. nice video indeed, I'm going to visit Kappabashi soon looking for a nice knife, because I'm tired of the 100 en ones XD

[javierperezjr]

This. is so cool! thanks for sharing :))))

[themindset]

What kind of steel does it have? I bough a knife that looks almost exactly the same in Kyoto, although mine has an octagonal handle and the texture on the side has a bit more of a matte finish to it. Mine has a high carbon, white steel core, very very hard and sharp but it's brittle and will require quite a bit of care. It reacts with food and develops this patina and a bluish tone over use, all good as long as it doesn't develop any warm tones, which would mean rust. Yours seems to stay perfectly silver so it's probably some kind of stainless steel? Mine also got my name engraved, and I got another one for my dad in a different store, also with the name engraved, seems to be a common practice in Japan!
BTW the shops I visited were Shinto and Minamoto-no-Hisaishi, both in Kyoto

[GrantHendrick]

Nice video Cassie. Gyutos are handy but I would suggest a petty next. Also once you are used to your new Santoku consider a carbon steel if you are the type that is good about cleaning your tools. Before that I suggest a ceramic honing rod. Then later think about whetstones. Again that applies if sharpening interests you and you want to control your edge. A honing rod for sure. Whetstones or going to a pro is something you need to ponder. Have fun!

[sharpfactory]

Your old knife could also cut like your new one, you can bring it to the knife Shop i saw they have a big stone wheel, in Japan it is normal to thin out kitchen knives

[Well_Earned_Siesta]

1:37 omg yes, 100%... Hate that feeling. I grew up really poor, so oftentimes I get that feeling and have to remind myself, "actually, I can afford this.". But I still get that feeling far too often

[bidin]

Nice knife after that knife I would recommend a takamura gyuto...as a chef I love knife that is bigger but for home cook santoku is really nice...when bought more knife I would recommend morihei knife near asakusabashi knife awesome shop I love going there to buy a whetstone... good luck with your cooking

[erickzhou]

Wow this santoku looks amazing!! do you know what brand or blacksmith made it? When you said you wanted a usuba, I almost felt from my chair haha. A usuba knife is one of the most difficult knives for use. It's single beveled, that means it's much sharper, but much delicate and much harder to use and sharpen

[thelostone]

My first serious knife was a santoku and I would recommend it to anyone regardless of where they live. And learn to properly sharpen and maintaining a knife. How did it hold up?

[davesmith]

Two years past the first screening, but .... I've been working with whetstones for three years now, and can get a knife sharp, sharper than it was out of the box. There are fine points to using a knife, and keeping a usable sharpness. The big trick is to strike a comfortable balance of sharpness (usefulness) and durability of that edge (so that you don't have to sharpen every week).
It is true that as a knife wears down from many sharpenings, especially if chips develop through carelessness, the thinnest part of the blade will be the first to be sharpened away, and fanatics will talk and show "thinning" the blade. But two or three millimeters of whetted away edge is not going to make that much of a difference, and that two or three millimeters is two to three THOUSAND microns! If you don't have chips or bends, you only remove maybe ten microns when you refresh the edge, or even less if you strop regularly. I make the point that with a brand new knife, you are still dragging the entire thickness of it through whatever you are slicing (if you slice all the way through, obviously). It is the edge and bevel angle that makes the first contact and initiates the slice.
The bevel angle is important. You can, yes, get a finer initial sharpness with a 10 degree bevel, but it is more fragile. The "sweet spot" angle balancing sharpness and durability is apparently somewhere between 12 and 15 degrees. As you get a thicker knife, the same bevel angle produces a wider bevel. The angle of the edge doesn't change. The thickness of the blade doesn't change, either. You are still dragging the entire blade through the melon (for example). The main thing that changes is the width of the bevel. Repeating: the angle of the bevel does not change.
One could argue that the melon meets more thickness sooner, but I'm not sure how to even conceptually gauge how much difference that makes after taking the wider bevel into account. Certainly, you can go through the entire process of thinning a blade on a whetstone, and make the blade thinner than it was originally. You also reduce its weight, and increase its fragility. If the thickness of the blade is a worry, then I suggest using a "shorter" blade, one that has less distance between the spine and the edge. Or simply buying a thin knife. The cohesion resistance of the entire blade is certainly something to consider. The "taller" the blade, the thicker (usually). A 6" utility knife if a pretty thin blade! And the "shorter" height of it makes for less cohesion as you slice. Ask a pro to thin your gyuto knife, and hear a groan; hear a price.

About sharpness, there is a graphable curve of declining sharpness over time of use. You can get an extremely sharp knife (50 BESS, for example, compared to the 200 to 300 BESS most western mass manufactured knives come with). The thing about a 50 BESS edge is that it will lose sharpness much more quickly. I would suggest that the "optimum sharpness" depends on use. If you watch a Japanese sushi master make paper thin slices of whitefish, you may notice how very carefully he handles his knife, as if it were a very fine crystal. He needs a very sharp knife. But if you watch a chef slice beef, or vegetables, his knife will make contact with the cutting board. His knives do not have to be as sharp. My guess is that for average domestic use, the mass manufacturers know something about that curve of declining sharpness! One very expert sharpener told me he sharpens his knives when they get about 400 BESS, and begin to feel a bit dull. It is not hard at all to get a knife below 200 BESS. Used carefully, you probably won't have to refresh that edge more than once a month, and you will probably be satisfied with 200 BESS sharpness. I have found that even 300 BESS can be refreshed down to 200 just by stropping. One knife fanatic told me he considers anything above 100 to be dull, and he keeps a high grit stone on his countertop next to his cutting board. I gather from that, that his 100 goes "dull" after just one or two uses. But, he undoubtedly has developed sharpening skill sufficient to think that 90 or 50 is worth it, and he can get that with minimal effort. I can't. I'm content with 140 because I don't want to put in a half an hour refreshing an edge. But I do use different knives for different things. And occasionally, I will go nuts and put i the time I require to get a 50 (but it fades).