Sango Yanagiba Sashimi Knife

Every blade is made in Seki, Japan, a city known for over seven hundred years of blade-making. Each knife is folded, ground, and finished by hand in a small family workshop there, then sold direct through this store with no dealer in between.

Real. The pattern is not printed or etched on. It is 67 actual layers of steel, folded and forge-welded around a hardened VG-10 cutting core, then hand-finished in Seki so the flowing suminagashi grain runs all the way through the blade. No two are identical, because the pattern is in the steel itself.

Razor sharp and ready to cook. Each blade is hand-honed to a 12 to 15 degree edge before it leaves Seki, far finer than a typical Western knife, so it glides through tomatoes, fish and herbs from the very first cut. No breaking in, no setup.

It holds. The VG-10 core is hardened to 60 to 62 HRC, harder than the soft stainless used in most store-bought knives, which is why it keeps its edge for months of regular use rather than weeks. A few passes on a honing rod keeps it aligned between sharpenings.

You never pay to keep it sharp. When the edge finally needs work, send the knife back and we sharpen it for free, for as long as you own it. With normal home use most owners only need this about once a year.

Start with the Chef knife (Gyuto) or the Santoku for everyday work, both handle almost everything. Add the Nakiri for vegetables and the Kiritsuke for clean, precise slicing. If you want the full kit, the matched set shares the same steel, finish and handle across every blade and is the easiest way to build a complete block over time.

Hand wash with warm water and dry it right after use, and store it on a magnetic strip or in a guard rather than loose in a drawer. Keep it out of the dishwasher, where heat and detergent dull the edge and damage the handle. Use it on wood or soft plastic, never glass, stone or ceramic.

Shipping is free on every order. Your knife ships from our US storefront, not from overseas, and leaves within one business day. Most orders arrive in 2 to 5 days, and tracking is emailed the moment yours is on its way.

Cook with it and put it to work. If it is not for you, return it within 60 days for a full refund, with no restocking fee. We would rather you use the knife and be sure than keep one that does not fit your hand.

Every blade is guaranteed for life against manufacturing defects in the steel, the edge and the handle. It does not cover normal wear or damage from misuse, such as cutting bone or frozen food, prying, or running the knife through a dishwasher. If a blade ever fails on our end, we replace it.

Because we sell direct. A blade like this normally passes through an importer, a distributor and a shop, each adding margin before it reaches you. Buying straight from the workshop means you pay for the steel and the craft, not the markup in between.

One of the best. Each knife arrives in protective packaging ready to give, and a blade like this gets used for decades instead of forgotten in a drawer. It is covered by the same lifetime guarantee and free sharpening even as a gift, with no receipt needed, so whoever receives it is looked after for good.