You have so many incorrect details in describing blade making in Japan its really embarrassing. You really should have your facts together because you are misinforming people, and as an award winning knifemaker its truly aggravating to have to listen to.

since then the steel has been allowed to be exported... example you can buy the raw steel from germany for 50 eurocents a gram...

Hi. I'm trying to find the origins of a Japanese knife I have. Its old, handmade, and has Japanese on the blade. Any help or suggestions? I would really like to learn the history behind it. Thank you

How can I order it?please tell me thanks

@@stephenversluis3994 go to d Philippines

Thank you so much for that. Really, I put a lot of extra effort into each episode for you and everyone. I really want you to enjoy it and to know you do, it means the world to me. THANK YOU!! -john

Why lol?

@@royaldecreeforthechurchofm8409Cutting boards are a thing for a reason. You don’t scrape the blade of a $200 knife on a ceramic plate. It very quickly dulls the blade.

How we can order it I need it....

There is no name Soooo true man

i wonder which camera is he using,awesome video non the less

Rodi in Japan I subscribe to your channel

No

mrtodd3620 I agree! I real answer is that I didn't have much time, I was exhausted after shooting the shopping all day and I did my best not to touch the plate at all -- I barely did. Do my best with what little I have -- but I do have my Seki knife and will treat it like a queen! -John

ONLY in JAPAN You are forgiven.

mrtodd3620 totally agree

I came down to the comments to say that, thanks.

@@joshuaginoza9446 Me also.

I knew if i looked long enough i would see a Hanzo steel reference. Saved me from having to say it.

Noseefood I sold mine at a pawnshop for a couple hundred bucks

Gewglesux omg, same!!! 😄

Alp Berkol thank you, Alp! I've been here for many years but now is the best time than ever! I can't believe how much Japan has changed to welcome foreign visitors. Also, thank you SO MUCH for watching the series! Really REALLY appreciate it. -John

I'm going to the festival this year, can't wait for it oh and btw thanks for introducing this festival to me, i've always wanted to go to a cutlery festival in japan

were waiting for it... thanks for informing us

any custom process exiting japan that we need to abide to bring those blades out of japan? Besides checking it in of course :)

I love this kind of videos, I hope to move in to Japaan 2 years from now, but first I'm going to live in Santiago de Chile nex Year. Greetings from Mexico!

khai yen ching nothing out of the ordinary but if you are buying something unusual l, different than a kitchen knife, ask the airline when you arrive about what you can check in on the way back. Each country has their own tariffs and customs so check when you depart at the airport - that's the best way to be 100% sure.

I feel the same watching movies even. Miss the normal days.

Worlds biggest pysop.

I just saw your comment and immediately thought that your plan was busted. 2020 sucks.

@@bellcrosswolfstein1942 REALLY BUSTED. It was our 50th aniversary. We went nowhere!

I know!! Some are even MORE if they have a history behind them. It really is quite a site to see a real one, made by hand from raw iron power to ... a work of art! -john

Totally agree!!! 👍

I was lucky enough way back in 1968-72 period to have met a few master sword and fitting collectors. I have several amazing swords and fittings from the 1400 to late 1500's. My artifacts cost me $2,000 to $16,000 for them is nothing. You couldn't even touch the good stuff that went up for sale at Sotheby's. The best stuff came from famous collectors Winston and Earnshaw collections. I was lucky to learn from them about Samurai swords and tsuba's. I wish I could get hold of some of those special cooking knives to try out.

anytime.

Hello sir. I am the manufacturer and exporter of all kinds of knives,swords,axes etc... we have been working in this field from so many years . I will give my best prices to you on knives and will give you best quality Regards: zeeshan

go fvck yourself

Thanks Thomas! Gifu was pretty amazing. I've a lot more to cover over there including Takayama someday. I saw you just got back from Kanazawa! It's been a while since I was in that part of Japan. Enjoyed that episode! Thanks for watching this one :) -john

ONLY in JAPAN Ah yes, Takayama. I'm heading off to Tohoku for Christmas, can't wait to go back. (how do you like Tohoku?) Take care John. ^^

I wish I could go to visit someday. But the problem is what to do if you can’t speak the language.

I agree. I think i paid about the same for mine.

Try to import a display sword to Japan they will destroy it. But buying a Japanese made display sword is allowed.

Sonny S I agree. Japan is an absolutely wonderful, beautiful, and interesting country, but it is hard just to choose one destination to travel to. If I could, I'd visit every city in every region. But where would John prefer?? :)

Here the best top swords in Japan 5- Masamune 4- Ultima blade 3- Lightbringer 2- Ragnarok 1-Omega Weapon.

This is weird for me but hey ....I dream of being in such places and visualize myself having a good time.

Thanks for the questions. It's hard because each person is different, liking different things! Some like onsen, some like museums, some like trekking or hiking, some just want to see the history or just eat! Japan is also a place with 4 seasons so it also depends WHEN you come. What I can say is GET OUT OF THE CITIES. It may be harder to communicate but it is so worth it! I have made a lot of videos the last year on places outside Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto. Try visiting Kanazawa, Toyama, Saga, Kagoshima, Iwate, Gifu, Mie, Akita, Wakayama, all of Shikoku Island! Not only will you feel the peace of Japan since there will be so few tourists with selfie sticks trying to get the same photo, you'll discover more about yourself. I have over the last 3-4 years making this series. Also, try participating in things, tea ceremony, flower arranging, festivals, wear a kimono or yukata once, try teppanyaki yourself on the hot table etc. As for rankings, they exist but you have to ask yourself what you want and then try it to make your own ranking. For me, I loved Hiroshima and Miyajima (but these days it is so crowded with tourists that it's not as peaceful as it used to be). I really enjoyed Gifu and the old towns on the river when making this episode. Kagoshima is one of my favorite cities because of the friendly people, drinking and eating and the onsen! I also loved the Sanin Area, Yonago / Matsue / Mount Daisen / Izumo / Tottori Sand Dunes. That's real Japan out there, taking the overnight train SUNRISE IZUMO from Tokyo. Let me know what you come up with :) I can tell you more that way. -john

Thank you John. I like the different types of festivals. Your recommendations on what season to go to Japan?

Tania hi

Tania thanks!! Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from Tokyo!! -John

Hey I know it might not have been my place but I blocked George do from my comment cause he in not so many words called me fat and told me to lay off the steaks and eat salads. Which kinda hurt. And I want you to know if my commenting on your videos or if I am making you lose subs cause of my appearance, I will stay away from your videos cause I don't want to bring anyone down cause of who I am; Gomennasai 🙇

Tania u r beautiful

Mllngtn Louis oops wrong sword xD

kevinwoolford123 -/@&

My Miyabi Mizu was $230.

200 is cheap when you buy yoshijiro grade cutlery

...and it's not even actual damacus steel (wootz), but simply pattern-welding, which was used all throughout the world.

something lost in translation, he said damascus type (the technique) but with material from seki.

@@dadanardi5541 Damascus isn't a technique. It's a type of steel ...which that knife isn't made of, at all. It's clearly just made with the old method, used all over the world, back in the day, of pattern-welding. That is, bending, twisting, and/or folding the metal into itself (the Japanese traditionally preferred to just fold, but these knives clearly have twists and bends). Historically, this was done to make poor steel more uniform and reduce impurities. This became obsolete, with improved steels (in Europe, this happened at around 1000 AD) It is now done *_purely_* for aesthetics, with no functional benefits, whatsoever.

@@ZarlanTheGreen i would call the art of making damascus steel itself is a technique. Secondly the technique is a lost art, what people refering as Damascus steel product in modern world is exactly the pattern-welding. This damascus in a loose definition for marketing purposes.

@@dadanardi5541 True, the _making_ of what is properly called Wootz (not actually from, or in any way related to, Damascus) can be describes as a technique, but that cannot be applied to your statement, nor t what the guy in the video said. (who quite clearly said that "Damascus" is a Japanese thing) _"This damascus in a loose definition for marketing purposes."_ It is very wrong ...and, for products that are made to be especially Japanese, rather ironic and counter-productive, IMO.

imstuner I was trying very hard not to touch it at all. It was an issue of time and what I had available to work with, last scene of the day at 10:30pm. Knife is resting in its case now. -John

boedhaspeaks I love my knife! I will treat her right and NEVER do it again. Thanks! -J

Maybe an episode on sharpening?

A chef's knife/santoku isn't the right knife for a plate anyways. A pocket knife or small fixed blade would be a better fit.

Yeah the Santoku is more of a preparation knife then one you would eat with. So don't use glass cutting boards with them. Wood and Polyethylene is fine for prep work.

He just wanted to have his brand new knife cut something. And he explained on another comment that it had been a long day and he didn't have anything better to cut on, so he went ahead and cut carefully.

justin m when i see him, i think of the original karate kid. lol

Geno C holy shit, yes!

Oddly, Autoplay brought me here after a Doug Demuro video.

Knife to meet you.

Reminds me of the episode on the Tokyo Fish market, where his knife was basically a sword.

Bob Walsh *cuts hand off* *WHY ME!*

It takes 2 months to make a Seki sword. Quality is important. This is KZfaq where videos stay online for many many years so why does the date matter? Also, people start planning their trips to Japan several months or a year in advance so it doesn't make sense to show this right after the event has ended, does it? -john

ONLY in JAPAN It is not a news channel nor do I expected it to be. Just thought it is a bit wierd for you to put out something so late. I thought your video would be more focused towards Christmas as it is right around the corner

norio kun is it late? I think it's 10 months early. It depends how you look at it. No matter what, it wouldn't be in time for the festival so there's no reason to rush it. I had other episodes that needed to be added before this since I'm on a schedule. The show must go on :) I shot the video in Iwate in early October a week before this one. The next video on Sakurajima was shot in January 2016 because I shot it the same time I made the Kagoshima Volcanic Sand bath episode. I shoot a lot of things at different times and sometimes put them together to make a full episodes. That may takes months but that's the fun part of it. The Udon episode was shot in June, July and October! I think vloggers will do great seasonal episodes which I'll be watching too, but I sure don't want to watch only Christmas episodes, especially when Christmas is done. ONLY in JAPAN episodes, my hope, stay watchable for years. -John

ONLY in JAPAN Thanks for putting your 2 cents in man. I apologize for my mistake. I guess it is upto you to put it up whenever you want and however you want to do it. I just thought you made the episodes like a "vloger" so I thought it was wierd for you to put it out so "late"

No problem my friend! It's all good :) I put them up as fast as I can. It's fun to tell a good story and hear people's reactions to it. Keeps me making these episodes through the long nights of editing. Thanks for writing. I always appreciate the feedback from everyone! -john

What a bullshit, you just throwing in some words....without any knowledge of it. Thats really easy to make up from your comment

I think what he meant is not the general process but the way THEY make their Damascus steel using 67 layers. That really is quite a lot. Damascus Steel, after a lot of research, is what is now referred to as pattern welding, not the middle eastern mythological technique. You can use different steels to make the pattern, different number of layers. The way they make it is unique. There's no way to actually confirm this but the brand is very reputable and they certainly wouldn't want to jeopardize that. Damascus steel is produced in a lot of places including by people who make their own knives themselves all over the world, something I'd love to try someday. For me, this was a gateway to a whole new world! Hope a lot of other people learned something it. -john

ONLY in JAPAN

No matter how you look at it. This statement is simply incorrect.

The 67 layers is a bit strange. As shown in the demonstration you pattern weld by folding the steel and welding it into a solid block again, so the number of layers doubles after each folding & welding step. This basically means the number of layers needs to be a power of two (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 etc.) unless you start out with an uneven number of layers (so if you start out with 3 layers it become 6, 12, 24, 48, 96 etc. layers) or weld other pieces of steel to the folded core (so you weld a piece of hard carbon steel to the folded core because it keeps a sharper edge and a piece of soft iron to the back so the blade can bend without breaking). So my guess would be 6 folds giving 64 layers plus 3 pieces of other steel welded to it. These techniques are specifically meant for the production of sword blades and not for knives by the way. Because knives are relatively short you don't run much risk of breaking them in use and want a steel that's as hard as possible even if it becomes a bit brittle, while you want a more flexible steel for a longer sword so the blade isn't going to break. That's why sword smiths pattern welded softer and harder steel/iron together all over the world before the invention of tempered carbon steel (and Japanese sword smiths still do it in this traditional way).

JerehmiaBoaz 67 layers is absolutely common, as long as you don't fold, but create a 67 layer billet and work off of that. Weld together a bunch of different layers, than hammer it out, and you have a 67 layer blade. And it has of course no superior qualities to homogenous mono-steel. Also, you don't want to fold modern steel material even once. Modern steel has the right amount of carbon, if you fold it, you burn out the carbon. It made sense with crucible steel, since that has very high carbon and slug content, so they had to clear it out. But anyone using monosteel layers, and folding them, is an idiot.

AsianLovePotato unagui

Pretty good. You?

ONLY in JAPAN hahaha, I'm good too. Another nice video by the way, keep up the good work :)

It's new because a lot of people who sent feedback said some parts are too long, some say to make it longer. It was a compromise -- so if it feels long, I'll limit it so it's not so annoying in the future. I can see how it can be annoying as well as a way to keep people watching. Thanks for the feedback! -john

Thanks for the reply. I want it too be longer. :) Alternatively, you can use timestamps of the sections below the video. Some youtubers do that. I could ignore that and people who aren't really interested can use those timestamps instead. (^0^)