Hatsukokoro Kamagata Usuba Shirogami #2 180mm

Hatsukokoro 

Hatsukokoro is a Japanese knife brand that brings together the craftsmanship, expertise, and traditions of various skilled Japanese knife makers and workshops. Rather than focusing on a single style or production method, Hatsukokoro offers a diverse range of knives, working with different blacksmiths, sharpeners, and craftsmen across Japan. This allows the brand to showcase a wide variety of steels, finishes, geometries, and traditional techniques, making Japanese knife craftsmanship accessible to a broader audience. From entry-level knives to highly refined, artisan-made pieces, Hatsukokoro represents the diversity and depth of Japan's knife-making industry.

Produced in Japan by skilled artisans—from forging to handle making and final sharpening—it’s a testament to how precision machine-forging can rival traditional hand-forged craftsmanship. Lightweight, razor-sharp, and undeniably elegant.

The Kamagata Usuba (鎌型薄刃)

It is the Kansai-style version of the traditional Japanese single-bevel vegetable knife, distinguished by its curved, pointed tip. Unlike the square-tipped Kanto-style Usuba, the Kamagata Usuba offers greater versatility when performing delicate and detailed work. Its pointed tip is particularly useful for decorative vegetable cutting (kazari-giri), angled slicing, removing seeds, hollowing out vegetables and other intricate preparations. In the Kanto style, these finer tasks are traditionally handled using a separate knife known as the Mukimono.

Despite their differences in blade profile, both Usuba styles share the same purpose: precision vegetable preparation. Their exceptionally thin blades allow them to cut cleanly and effortlessly through vegetables, making them ideal for peeling, precision slicing and the traditional Katsuramuki technique, where vegetables such as daikon radish are shaved into long, thin sheets.

Like other traditional Japanese single-bevel knives, the Usuba is ground specifically for either right-handed or left-handed use. A left-handed version requires the bevel and blade geometry to be made in the opposite direction to ensure proper cutting performance.

**Knife Specs:**

Brand: Hatsukokoro

Knife Type: Kamagata Usuba

Blade Construction: Nimai

Finishing : Migaki

Grind: Single-edged Blade 

Hagane (Core Steel): Shirogami #2 (White #2)

Jigane (Cladding): Soft Iron Clad

Hardness: 62-63 HRC

Blade Length (heel-to-tip): 180mm (7")

Blade Height (at heel): 43mm-45mm

Spine Thickness Above heel: 3.6mm

Spine Thickness At Tip :  1.7mm

Weight : 175g-181g

Handle Shape: Full Ebony (Octagonal)

**Care Instructions:**  

This is a high carbon steel blade therefore it has the potential to rust if is not take care properly. 

Please make sure the knife is kept dry after usage and during storage and apply a layer of oil every time after using it. The blade will change its colour due to oxidation and also after in contacting with acid. This is perfectly normal and we often called this is patina. 

Please note that the edge may appear black due to the photography lighting, but it is not actually black.