Yoshida Hamono

Yoshida Hamono is located in Saga prefecture, on the island of Kyushu.

Its founder Seiji Yoshida, started out as an apprentice to famous Hideyoshi Muto, a prestigious blacksmith, and Kensaku Motomura, a maker of military swords for the Japanese army. In 1943, he was awarded the Newcomer Award at the Japanese Sword Exhibition, Under the supervision of his father Nobuichi and together with some more talented blacksmiths, they established the Yoshida Knife Factory.

Saga area is not one of the production center for knives and there are not many other craftsmen, they have built a facility that can handle the knife making process entirely from start to finish, whereas most knife-makers outsource their steel lamination and sharpening.

Not only they laminate their own steel, but they use the sub-zero heat treat technique to purify the steel, which allows the knife to perform and sharpen better. This prevents the knife from bending with time by “stabilizing” its structure. This is a seriously important factor in the knife manufacturing.