Hello World!
This is an Echizen Uchihamono,
which is a designated Japanese traditional craft.
What does that even mean?
Well, Echizen is the name of the city,
and uchihamono literally means "hitting blade".
In 1377, a katana master from Kyoto,
was searching for the perfect place to make katanas,
found Echizen had the best water and ingredients,
and so set up shop.
So important was he,
that to this day local blade makers worship him at his shrine.
And here we are, 700 years later.
How do you make one of these works of art?
You go to a guy like Koji Masutani.
If my grandpa wasn't a knife maker, my father wouldn't have been one either,
Counting from my grandpa, I'm the third generation.
So naturally, from when I was small, I thought I would grow up to make knives.
One of my main goals of the visit to the factory,
was to learn how these hand crafted knives were different to mass produced ones.
These steps are what we used to do,
but now steel makers do the three layers or the damascus cladding.
So we're going to hit and expand those thick materials.
This is the material we start off with.
We're using coke as the fuel.
In the heat of the summer, it's extremely hot.
In the depths of winter, it's so cold that their hands are frozen,
and they can't easily use their hands to eat.
So with these tough conditions, young people didn't stay.
This work is hard on the body.
So that's the tough part about the job.
But I push through it.
Among all the jobs that exist,
I think making knives is the most interesting.
I really wanted to do the work, so I was hoping to get this job.
And when I actually started, I found it very difficult,
but as I got better, I was happy and delighted to level up my skills.
I'm really grateful to have this great job.
I believe we put life into the knives.
I feel that making knives with automated machines is impersonal.
A knife makers loeses that connection when using automated machines.
There are several small factory buildings to accommodate the many, many steps
involved in the knife making process.
In the past, knife makers used to only use a hammer,
but we replaced it and now forge with this.
The surface of this plain rough metal becomes smooth when it's hit.
We also fix and straighten it if it's bent.
The plain one can easily bend.
But once it's been hit, it gets harder and tougher.
We just don't buy metal and stamp knives out.
It is totally diffrent from those ones at a glance.
Our knives are thick on the back and thin on the blade.
This might be confusing, but they do stamp out the knives at this point.
The difference from mass produced knives,
is that they hand forge and shape the knife beforehand.
From here we'll harden the knife.
The temperature for hardening is about 1060°C.
Figuratively speaking, here we are going to put life into the knives.
In this step, we are making the metal hard and strong,
which is called quenching.
This is also a sacred place.
This is kamisama.
I thought that Greg-san may want to try this step.
Returning back to the start, they let me try out the first step.
When watching from a distance, it looked so effortless.
But if my face isn't showing it well enough,
it was way harder than I thought.
You had to simultaneously use both precision and strength.
Apprentices learn each station one at a time,
and it takes years and years to be able to do it all from start to finish.
This job is very difficult to learn,
and even though I tried so many times, I couln't do it well.
But when I clear an obstacle,
I feel great accomplishment.
Although I still have so much stuff to learn,
I want that great feeling of achieivement,
and to create good knives,
so I keep trying everyday.
When I entered this field about 40 years ago,
there were so many great shokunins.
Although they had immense skill to pass on,
they had to close their businesses because of no apprentices to work with.
So I was wondering and asking why they weren't training apprentices.
Those owners said the main reaason is the work couldn't earn them a living.
If you see sparks, you are damaging the product,
so you need to use water when sharpening the knives.
We grind the blade untill this line disappears.
This middle one has only been grinded once so far,
but compared to the ones on the side, you can cleary see the difference.
If you haven't noticed, each process often has multiple stations.
So while this may look like the same footage,
we've now moved on to a finer whetstone.
On this one you can see a horizontal line from the grinding.
You may not be able to see it but actually it's not smooth.
This has to be smooth otherwise it won't cut.
You have to even it out.
That's what we're doing here.
To make it more attractive, we take off the handle and weld on a new design.
We try to use natural wooden handles,
or materials that other makers wouldn't use now.
Echizengama (sickles for farming).
It's dying as not many people make them anymore.
There is only one left out of more than 100 companies that used to exist.
Even with great knowledge and skills, no products can be sold.
I saw the bad situation happening and
thought what I can do with my company?
I thought of using traditional skills to make items that people want today.
So for example, I asked chefs what kind of knives they like?
Making connections, making friends, I get inspiration.
The top manager on the floor is 30 years old now.
We have 8 young people from 18 to 30 years old.
About 20 years ago when I placed a job ad, no young people applied at all.
Now we can't hire them all.
Because my father was born in the year of dragon,
we thought of the name Ryusen.
Think of Ryu (dragon) standing out of a sen (spring).
Ryu is very sacred in Japan.
A dragon standing up in a spring,
water dripping from its body making beautiful designs on the surface of the water.
We wanted to put the desigh on our knives even though
it doesn't do anything to the sharpeness of blades.
The balance, the thinckness of the blade, the weight,
Every knife is so diffrent from each other.
So if I wanted people to see our products,
I had to go to department stores in Tokyo.
But for safety reasons, I had to keep our knives
in a glass case where no one could touch them.
So, he made his own gallery,
where people could play with his knives all they liked.
The sound itself is already different.
Yeah, you're right.
Wahh!
Wahh! Ahaha!
It feels so good.
One thing that I couldn't get off my mind,
as I learned about all the skill and dedication
that went into the knives,
was the thought that these knives weren't meant for everyday cooks.
I understand that customers are nervous to use these thin, beautiful knives.
But we make tools to cut food so that you can eat and live,
so please feel free and don't be scared of using one.
Something I continue to research as I makes videos about Japan,
is how smaller cities and towns are dealing with the decline in population,
and the move from traditional skills to more modern work.
I'm happy to report, that in this specific case,
it looks like the traditional craft of Echizen Uchihamono is going against the grain.
They're attracting young workers,
the business is growing,
and they're successfully blending the old with the new.
My apprentices get an opporutnity to sell their own knives once a year.
Talking to the customers in person, they gain their own fans.
This makes them motivated to get better for the next year.
Overall, their motivation to get better improves the company...
I think that in Japan, or in the world, there are not many people who use Echizen Uchihamono yet.
Around the world, I want more people to use our knives,
for them to become more famous,
and one day I would like to make the very best knives in the world.
Thanks for watching, see you next time, bye!
What are traditional crafts like where you're from?