Masakage is the first original brand created by Takayuki Shibata, aimed to create knives that are all rounders with high performance, fit and finish, beauty and authentic beauty originated from the craftsmanship of masterful bladesmiths. 

The name of the Masakage Brand originated from a Warring States Samurai General Masakage Yamagata, and this name carries the hope of Shibata san of creating a versatile brand that excels in all aspects, just like how Masakage Yamagata excels in battle, strategy, diplomacy, public order, and domestic affairs. 

The knives from the Masakage Brand are all collaborations between members of the TAKEFU Knife Village and Shibata san, where the forging and heat treating are done by various big names from Echizen like Yu Kurosaki, Shiro Kamo, Yoshimi Kato or Takeshi Saji. These blades are then hand sharpened at Shibata’s workshop, where they achieve exceptional sharpness and beautiful finish.

The way that Masakage knives are done are pretty much as handcrafted as you can get while being reasonably affordable, and they do display characteristics that are unique for handcrafted knives. Commonly seen on these blades are the forge-tapered spine, elegant, organic surface finish and complex bevel geometry that offer the smoothest cut. And I have to say I really like the names that Shibata san came up with, Kiri(fog), Yuki(snow), Shimo(frost), Mizu(water), Kumo(cloud)... Each lineup gets a poetic name that triggers your imagery about nature, where that image is reflected on the appearance of the knife through a carefully designed fabrication process. As far as product design goes, Masakage is top notch in my opinion.

So Masakage is indeed doing what Shibata san want the brand to do: providing knives that are truly excellent in all aspects. They got great balance and handling, excellent sharpness and edge retention, great look and on top of that, a beautiful name to complete them as integral packages.