Hello, my name is Yosuke Kamata, the fourth generation of Kamata Hakensha.　

I have started this blog in the hope that I will be able to talk about my daily work of sharpening (repairing kitchen knives) and other topics related to kitchen knives.

I would like to share with you some of the things I do every day in the kitchen knife repair process.

First of all, I would like to introduce the tools for sharpening kitchen knives.

This is an indispensable tool for sharpening kitchen knives, the “round whetstone”.

Most people sharpen their kitchen knives with a square shaped “Kakutoishi” (square whetstone), but we use this round whetstone because we sharpen a large amount of kitchen knives for our work,

However, we use this round whetstone because we have a lot of knives to sharpen for our work.

Like a grinder, we use the power of the machine to sharpen our knives.

This type of whetstone is sometimes called a “water whetstone,” and it basically uses water.

When knives are heated excessively, it has a bad effect on the steel material (annealing).

Therefore, it is necessary to sharpen knives while cooling the frictional heat caused by sharpening with water.

This tool is used in Tsubame-Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture, Seki City, Gifu Prefecture, Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, Takefu City, Fukui Prefecture, and other places famous for their cutlery.

Takefu, Fukui, etc., are also famous for their cutlery.

There are two types of kitchen knives, Japanese knives and Western knives, with different shapes.

Even the same round whetstone is used by different craftsmen and factories in each production area for different conditions and uses of tools.

In particular, “Japanese knives,” as typified by Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, are traditional “single-edged” knives, with the back side having a hollowed-out shape called “Urasuki.

The round whetstone is an indispensable tool for making Japanese knives.

Thanks to this round whetstone, we are able to repair almost all types of knives in our store.

This whetstone is rotated and used every day in the store of Kamata Hakensha

Tourists and foreign customers visiting Kappabashi often stop at the storefront to take pictures of this sight, which they see for the first time,

They often stop at the shop and take pictures of it for the first time.

We are glad that this is a good opportunity for people to experience Japanese cutlery culture in Kappabashi.

See you soon.

Yosuke Kamata, 4th generation of Kamata Hakensha

*This is a translation by a translation tool.