Hatsukokoro

Who is Hatsukokoro?

Hatsukokoro is the name over the door rather than the name at the forge. Its lines are commissioned from named smiths and workshops across Japan's cutlery regions: Wikipedia's entry on Japanese kitchen knives names Sakai, Seki, Takefu-Echizen, Tosa and Tsubame-Sanjo among the country's notable knife making cities and Hatsukokoro's own product listings tie specific lines to several of them. The Hayabusa line runs on Takefu Super Gold 2, a powdered stainless steel from the Takefu steel trade in Echizen, Fukui, where the Takefu Knife Village's own history page dates the region's forged blade tradition back roughly 700 years and records that Echizen Uchihamono became the first forged blade craft in Japan to receive the country's Traditional Craft designation, in 1979. The Aosagi line, by contrast, is made in Sakai rather than the Tosa workshops that usually turn out that style of carbon kurouchi knife, and the Shirasagi single bevel line is finished at Myojin Riki Seisakusho, a workshop known for its sharpening and polishing. Several lines carry a named collaborator on the box: Yoshihiro Yauji, who trained under the single bevel specialist Hideo Kitaoka, forges and sharpens his own line in small numbers; Sukenari builds the STRIX line and a stainless single bevel deba to Hatsukokoro's specification; Yoshikane forges the SKD Nashiji line on its own tapered Sanjo profile; and Nigara forges and sharpens the Yorokobi line for Hatsukokoro. Reading a Hatsukokoro knife starts with the line name, not a single house mark.

What marks a Hatsukokoro knife?

The mark sits in the finish and the handle, since Hatsukokoro runs several house looks rather than one. Kurouchi lines such as Aokitae, Aosagi, Kurogane, Kurokaze, Kuronami and Shikkoku keep the raw, dark forged scale on the face of the blade and pair it with an octagonal black chacate handle. The Ginso line polishes the steel to an even shine in Ginsan. Nashiji lines such as Ginrei and the Yoshikane SKD collaboration texture the cladding to a pear skin finish that still reads as forged rather than machine ground; Ginrei's nashiji sits over an ebony handle. Damascus lines such as Ryuhyo, Hikari, STRIX and the Nigara collaboration clad the core in a patterned steel, mirror polished on STRIX and darker on Ryuhyo's black Damascus. Double bevel shapes carry the general kitchen work, while the single bevel deba and yanagiba lines, including the Myojin and Sukenari collaborations, keep to the traditional grind that Wikipedia's entry on Japanese kitchen knives describes as sharpened mostly on one face, the omote, with a hollow, the urasuki, ground into the back to release food.

How do you choose and start using a Hatsukokoro knife?

Start with maintenance rather than looks. Hatsukokoro's carbon lines, forged in Aogami or Shirogami steel, all carry the same care note on our shelf: rinse and dry the blade as you finish cooking, oil it before it goes back in the drawer and expect the edge to darken with a patina over time. The stainless and semi stainless lines still want a hand wash and a dry cloth rather than a dishwasher, but will not rust from an ordinary wet afternoon at the board. Shape follows task next: gyuto, santoku, bunka and nakiri are double bevel shapes for the general chopping and slicing a home kitchen does most, while deba and yanagiba are single bevel shapes built for breaking down and slicing fish, and reward a slower, more deliberate technique. Whichever line you start with, keep the sharpening on a waterstone rather than a honing rod or a pull through gadget, and touch the edge up often rather than waiting for it to go properly blunt.

What do we carry from Hatsukokoro?

What we have on hand covers most of Hatsukokoro's range rather than a narrow slice. On the carbon side there is Aokitae and Aosagi in Aogami 2 kurouchi, Kurogane in Aogami 2 and Kurokaze in Aogami 2 or White 2, Kuronami and Shikkoku as the Tosa entry line and Kumokage in a Damascus kurouchi finish, most on an octagonal black chacate handle. On the stainless and semi stainless side there is Ginrei and Ginso in Ginsan, Ryuhyo in SG2 black Damascus, Hikari in SLD Damascus, STRIX in Takefu's powdered steel and Ginga in ATS34 Damascus. The collaboration lines sit alongside them: the Hatsukokoro x Nigara Yorokobi bunka, the Hatsukokoro x Yoshikane SKD Nashiji gyuto, the Hatsukokoro x Myojin Shirasagi deba, the Yoshihiro Yauji yanagiba and a VG1 deba by Sukenari. There is also a Seki made kitchen shear that comes apart for sharpening. Browse the Hatsukokoro collection to see the current range, since what is on the shelf shifts as pieces sell through. We also carry Nigara and Sakai Takayuki knives, if you want to compare a Hirosaki forge and a Sakai house against Hatsukokoro's multi region lines. For help choosing between these shapes see our guide to choosing a Japanese kitchen knife, and for the waterstone routine every line here asks for, see how to sharpen a Japanese knife and our guide to whetstones.

How do you look after it?

Care follows the steel rather than the line name: carbon blades want a rinse, a dry and a light oiling after every use, the way Hatsukokoro's own listings describe it, while stainless and semi stainless blades need only a hand wash and a dry cloth, since the wood handle still dislikes a dishwasher cycle even though the steel will not rust from ordinary use. Sharpen every line on a waterstone rather than a honing rod or a pull through gadget, and keep touching the edge up rather than waiting for it to go properly blunt, the one instruction Hatsukokoro repeats regardless of steel.