Name: Why Sushi Chefs Pay Up to $20,000 for These Stainless Steel Knives
Uploaded: 2024-05-17T04:01:00Z
Duration: 10 min 11 s
Description: Crafting sushi knives is a 600-year-old tradition in parts of Japan, but they’ve rarely been made of stainless steel. Here’s how one knifemaker broke the mold and found cult status among top sushi chefs. Photo: MacKenzie Coffman

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Crafting sushi knives is a 600-year-old tradition in parts of Japan, but they’ve rarely been made of stainless steel. Here’s how one knifemaker broke the mold and found cult status among top sushi chefs. Photo: MacKenzie Coffman

https://m.wsj.net/video/20240514/93d2238b-57fd-4011-b722-ec5827b48866/1/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

Why Sushi Chefs Pay Up to $20,000 for These Stainless Steel Knives

There is a long, deep history of knife making across Japan. It stemmed from sword making that started over a thousand years ago. It's typically a family business that has been passed down over generations.

Sushi knives are traditionally made of high-carbon steel. The issue is, they are extremely high maintenance. There was a perception among sushi chefs that stainless steel nice, cannot be as good as high carbon steel. There's one person, Sawada San who is trying to change this perception. Some people told us, he's like a mad scientist. Sawada San calls himself otaku. Otaku is a Japanese word that describes someone who are obsessed with something and Sawada San is really obsessed, obsessed with making better knife. That is my impression. Using stainless steel in knife making doesn't necessarily mean it is cheaper. Actually, Nenohi has many custom-knife orders. The most expensive one Nenohi has ever sold was 3 million Yen, which is $20,000. And the wait time is like two years. Depending on the knife, it's gonna be like three years. They also put a lot of effort and time to extract the best performance of the steel. Nenohi sources its steel from nine different suppliers. The goal of heat treatment is to give the steel the right balance between the hardness and the flexibility. Each type of steel has different property. In one case, Sawada took five years to come up with a perfect treatment of the steel. The shaping is a stage when the blade is turned into the shape of the knife. Nenohi Sushi knives is kataba, or single bubble. Nenohi workers train at least 10 years to be entrusted with the shaping stage. But some of them can never reach that level. The final stage of knife making includes handle attachment and mirror finish. And this stage is really customizable. Nenohi is already really small company and they only have 10 craftsman. There are only two people at Nenohi who can do everything from start to finish, and one of them is Sawada San.

Coveted highlights the precision and process behind expertly-crafted cult favorites—from the smallest everyday items to the ultimate luxury splurge.