Hatsukokoro Knives

We were recently introduced to H & K Corporation, a cutlery wholesaler in the Hyogo prefecture of Japan. Many blade manufacturers in Japan prefer to work with wholesalers so they can concentrate on the quality of their blades. Wholesalers affix the handles to blades and then distribute the finished knives to retailers (like us) around the world. Other notable wholesalers we work with are West Japan Tool (Masakage & Shibata Knives), Etsu Knife and Sakai Takayuki. Wholesalers work with both notable factories who chisel their own maker-marks into their blades, and lesser known factories that provide unmarked blades for the wholesaler to apply their own mark, like an OEM model.

H & K’s house brand is called Hatsukoro. The brand is supplied by a handful of manufacturers from different notable knifemaking regions such as Seki and Tosa. Our first import shipment from H & K included the Kumokage line and the Shinkiro line. Kumokage translates to “cloud shadow”. The knives are hand-forged damascus-clad blue #2 steel from a factory in Tosa. We had them affixed with wenge and buffalo horn handles with a diagonal-cut base. We think they offer exceptional performance and beauty for the price.

Shinkiro translates to “mirage”, and this line is stunning. Hand-forged damascus-clad Aogami Super steel at its finest. Our first batch was mated to multi-color pakka and maple octagonal handles. These blades are made specifically for H & K by a blacksmith named Takahiro Nihei in Fukushima. The tsuchime pattern in the damascus cladding is indicative of the expertise of the blacksmith. Nihei also makes knives for the wholesaler Konosuke Knives, and is highly regarded.