Yusaku Blue #2 Kurouchi Nakiri 180mm

Yusaku Blue #2 Nakiri 180mm is made by a young up-and-coming blacksmith we have recently discovered. His name is Kousuke Muneishi and he is a 3rd generation blademaker heralding from Tosa. His grandfather started the Muneishi Cutlery Mfg company in 1955 to produce farming and forestry tools. His father took over management of the business and continues making these specialized cutting tools using mainly Aogami #2 steel.

Now grandson Kousuke has begun making kitchen cutlery to expand the family business and add to his blademaking skills. We are very impressed with these first efforts and have high hopes of a long relationship with this talented young man.

We have named these knives Yusaku and the kanji on the blade reflects this branding. The last character is pronounced Yu, but also can be pronounced as Suke when used in a name. The first kanji is Saku and it means work. So Yu-Saku means the work (or produced by) of Kousuke!

The first offering is a nice 180mm nakiri made from Blue #2 steel that is laminated with a soft iron. He uses the san-mai method and leaves the forger’s scale (kurouchi) on the blade face. The grind is very well realized and quite sophisticated. It is thin behind the edge and has a nice profile.

Yusaku Blue #2 Nakiri 180mm comes with a very nice octagonal handle made with burnt Urushi finish that looks great and is easy to keep clean.

Weight: 6.4 oz (182 g)

Edge Length: 181 mm

Total Length: 326 mm

Spine Thickness at Heel: 3.3 mm

Blade Height at Heel: 47.2 mm

Handle: Octagonal with Burnt Urushi Finish