This Blue 1 line commissioned by Hatsukokoro is one of the backbone product line forged by Satoshi Nakagawa. With a series of Yanagiba forged in the most traditional form, these blades truly demonstrate how Nakagawa-San have perfected this craft after 20 years of learning under the legendary bladesmith Kenichi Shiraki.
If you ever wandered around a Japanese kitchen knife shop that focus on traditional profile single bevel knives, like Aritsugu or Masamoto, you might spot that these knives are made in a same format: Hitachi carbon core steel, soft iron cladding with a Kasumi finish bevel and brushed Migaki finish on the rest of the surface. This classic form has been refined over and over and it's what is most used in practice for most of the chefs working along Japanese food.
With his rich experience in knife forging, Nakagawa-san able to refine this form to a very high level, when picking up these knives, the excellent craftsmanship can be immediately perceived. The Kasumi-finished bevel is silky smooth with uniform cladding steel flows organically above the edge; the Hira receives a finly done Migaki finish, having a sharply defined Shinogi line against bevel; the Urasuki on the backside unlike most of the Kasumi knives, also got a finer Kasumi finish instead of a Migaki polish.
In terms of how refined a Kasumi single bevel can be, I belive there are hardly any competitor, the Shirasagi by Myoji Riki Seisakusho may come close, but the rounded spine, higher grade finish and Blue 2 steel with higher carbon of Nakagawa's knives still wins out. For those who are looking for a classic single bevel carbon knife, I might even say forget about Masamoto, these blade made by Satoshi Nakagawa are some quite remarkable pieces.
