Sakoda Hamono

Sakoda Hamono is led by its 2nd generation maker, Tsuyoshi Sakoda, born in Susaki, Kochi in 1969 — the city where the workshop has forged Japanese kitchen knives since 1973, within a Tosa blade tradition more than four hundred years old.

Sakoda spent more than two decades mastering sharpening and finishing. He trained in single-bevel sharpening and quenching in Echizen, returned to refine his work at a blade maker in Kochi, then studied double-bevel sharpening under an Edo blade master and whetstone, as well as hand-sharpening technique under a specialist stone maker and smith from Sanjō. He began producing double-edged knives in 1998. Only in 2018 did he take up forging itself, under his father Haruyoshi Sakoda.

The forge he stepped into was his father's. His father, having worked in the technical division of the steelmaker Sumitomo Metals and having helped at his family's forging business before setting out on his own, brought a special grounding in steel and iron to the craft. He was later recognized for it on several occasions: first, certified as a Tosa no Takumi (Tosa Master) in 1997, and in 2000 as a Dentōkōgeishi, a government-recognized Traditional Craftsman in the Tosa forged-blade craft.

That dual grounding — edge first, forge second — shapes how the workshop treats a blade. Forging is governed by close temperature control at every stage, from shaping the hot steel through quenching and tempering, so the steel reaches its hardness without losing its character. But in Sakoda's view a well-forged blade is only half a knife: none is truly finished until it has been sharpened properly, and re-sharpened, across the years it is used.