Erin takes Osaka, Post #1

Hey everyone!

A pre-takoyaki selfie
in front of the Dotonburi Glico billboard

My name is Erin, and for the next few days I’ll be in Osaka, Japan on my Rosenkrantz Discovery travels. Yesterday I arrived at Kansai International Airport on a flight from Hong Kong, then boarded the bullet train and subway into the city to grab dinner in Dotonburi (Takoyaki, or octopus balls, if you were wondering) and get settled and prepared for the rest of the trip. I’m here to explore the topic of Japanese knives and learn about traditional knifemaking, a rich and significant part of Japanese cultural heritage.

Today, I embarked on my journey of discovery by visiting the Sakai City Traditional Crafts Museum, including the Sakai Hamono (“bladed things”) Museum, and the Sakai-Tohji Knife Museum. Sakai is a port city located in Osaka prefecture, accessible from Namba station in Osaka via a quick 15 minute subway ride. The public transportation system here is incredibly impressive and also considerably confusing, but luckily I haven’t gotten lost yet! Sakai has shaped and been shaped by traditional craft and trade, including the forging and smithing industries, incenses, and wazarashi cotton. These industries, among others, led Sakai to be a globally connected city with so much trade that it once held the nickname “Venice of the East”. Today, one of the things Sakai is most well known for is its production of handcrafted steel blades. To begin this blog series, I would like to share some of the history I learned today that helps contextualize knifemaking's place in Japanese culture.

Sakai’s relationship with smithing began many years ago, evolving over the years according to society’s demands. For instance, expertise in metal processing may have originated with the making and casting of tombs, figurines such as the Great Buddha of Kamakura, and temple bells. In the “Yayoi Period”, from several centuries B.C. to 3rd century A.D., iron tools were first introduced and the Tatara iron-making process was developed from deoxidizing iron sands to produce Tamahagane Japanese iron. This iron was used as a raw material for Japanese samurai swords, and in the 8th century “Nara Period”,  techniques were honed to create blades from this material that did not break or bend. From the 9th century onward, food culture continued to develop, and “Houcho” knives for cooking became standard. In the 14th century “Muromachi Period”, the ritual type of Honzen Japanese cooking was established, when the host showed off expert knife skills in front of guests.

Sakai produced muskets as seen in the Tohji museum

In the 16th century, tobacco leaves arrived in the port city, and the sharp tobacco knives Sakai produced propelled their reputation for blades to fame. In  fact, in 1761, the Tokugawa Shogunate allowed Sakai tobacco knives to be stamped with a “Sakai Kiwame” hallmark for their unique sharpness. Throughout this century, Sakai was also known as a major global arms producer and was renowned for muskets made with local techniques of foundry and smithing. Some 100 000 muskets were produced. In 1982, Japan’s Ministry of Trade, Economy, and Industry proclaimed Sakai cutlery as a Traditional National Craft. The traditional techniques used to make Sakai Blades have been preserved and handed down by artisans and craftspeople, who continue to follow these traditions, and can even incorporate modern techniques, technologies, and materials to create specialized, beautiful, long-lasting products.

Today, about 90% of Japanese knives used by professional chefs in the country are crafted in Sakai. This Sakai cutlery, while potentially coming from many different local smiths, has been unified as of 2007 to be registered under the name of “Sakai Uchi-hamono” (Sakai Forged Knife) through the Federation of Sakai Cutlery Commerce and Industry Associations. From chefs knives that fillet fish or cut soba (buckwheat) noodles, to scissors, to tools that punch button holes, the discipline and diligence of the forging craft remain the same. Sakai continues to be home to many knife artisans and companies that continue the local craft, while also engaging in an international commercial network that caters to the increasing global demand for Japanese knives.

I was able to learn about the history of Sakai and its relationship with blades and commerce from visiting two museums today. I first went to the Sakai Hamono Museum, which is on the second floor of the Traditional Crafts Museum. This establishment is run by Sakai Government’s Industrial Promotion Bureau, and is both informative and commercial, with one large room with informative displays and videos, and the other containing many Sakai crafts for sale. Upstairs, the Hamono Museum is a large single room with an impressive array of knives for display and many cases of locally made knives for sale. I was the only visitor, and was able to walk around studying the cases and observing the wide variety of labelled blades. The second museum is run by the Tohji cutlery company, and was established by them to share the smithing culture. Again, I was the only visitor - in fact, this museum wasn’t even open when I tried to go in. I walked into Tohji’s shop headquarters, and when I asked about the museum, a staff member graciously walked me over, unlocked the door, turned on the lights, and let me look around.

The Tohji museum’s format felt more familiar; two ordered, curated rooms with set displays, and plenty of information about the commercial history of knives. I believe the main difference between this museum and the Sakai Hamono museum stems from the fact that the Hamono museum functions primarily a shop and secondarily as a museum (even the sign outside says “Sakai knife shop and museum”), whereas the Tohji knife museum is housed separately from the shop and has the sole intention of sharing the purpose and history of Sakai knives. Still, the Tohji museum is quite hidden, and clearly quite niche, considering it doesn’t seem to generally stand open.

        

           Upstairs entrance to the Sakai Hamono museum

Introduction sign at the Tohji museum

There’s a lot more to share about how the blades are actually forged and what makes Sakai blades unique. In my next post, I’ll be sharing more of what I have discovered about knifemaking in Sakai, including information about the raw materials, stages of production from pieces of metal to wholesale products, the incredible variety and specialized blades that are produced, and more. Now it’s time for dinner, and a good night’s sleep before visiting some knife shops and a factory in Sakai tomorrow. Maybe I'll head out to grab some soba, and try to catch a glimpse to see if they’re using one of these knives!

Case #5 in the Sakai Hamono museum, showing tuna filet knives on top, udon and soba noodle knives on the bottom left, and ritual knives on the bottom right.