Minamoto Masafusa Yanagiba

Minamoto Masafusa — this name may not sound very familiar to ThaiJapanese knifeenthusiasts, because it is a local brand from Sakai that specialises in making deba and yanagiba (sushi knives). Minamoto Masafusa knives are not made in a factory; instead the work is divided, with craftsmen skilled in each step responsible for their own part before passing the work on to the next specialist household. Each household passes its techniques down from its ancestors to its sons. Every step is not just work in exchange for money, but a way of presenting ancestral wisdom to the world. Every knife is the craftsman's pride. Beyond great skill, hardship and danger are things craftsmen face every day: for example, the power hammer that pounds down on the blade — one slip onto the craftsman's hand ends his career along with the hand. Hardening must be done only at night, because it must be completely dark around them to strike the knife precisely at the point where the steel glows red. And so on. There are many more production processes that rely solely on skilled craftsmen in each household — even the handles have their own specialist craftsmen. Of course