恭平鍛造

Kyohei Shindo did not grow up in a forge. Born in Hokkaido, he studied at university in Okinawa, then moved to Kochi Prefecture with one specific goal: to make kitchen knives not as objects to be displayed, but working tools.

There was an obstacle. The blacksmith trade around him had no apprenticeship system and no formal way to train a successor. Rather than give up, Shindo took a job with a Tosa cutlery wholesaler to stay close to the craft, and on his days off he borrowed a corner of a working blacksmith's shop and taught himself to forge following the advice of all of those around him. In 2019 he went independent under his own workshop name at the age of 31 years old.

Today he forges, grinds, and sharpens every blade himself in Kami, Kochi Prefecture. The geometry follows a simple logic: thicker at the heel for stability, thinning toward the tip for control.

Shindo designs by feel rather than by spec sheet, judging a knife by how cleanly it moves through food and how light it sits in the hand, not by numbers alone.