Tokyo: Knife Shop Aritsugu

Aritsugu is located in the street mall in the Tsukiji fish market. They open incredibly early, just like the rest of the fish market. That gave me an opportunity to squeeze in a morning visit and appreciate their shop. When I walked in, the staff was in the shop at the back of the store, working on a knife. The shop performs repairs on knives and they let me watch a polishing operation. Polishing and sharpening are somehow very calming activities, although they require great skill.

This is a selection of their more typical knives. This site and this site have good introductions to Japanese knives. Japanese knives are made with carbon steel rather than stainless; they also use a single-sided edge rather than the double-sided edge of a German knife. Carbon steel is harder (good) but requires more careful sharpening (bad, unless you enjoy sharpening knives, which I do). Other cabinets in the store had very different types of knives, some specifically for fish. I think that these specialty knives are the real reason to visit a shop like Aritsugu. Not only do I see these types of knives at my local mall, I don't see them described in some of the English language Web sites on Japanese knives.

That said, my purchase was fairly conservative. This chef's knife is made of carbon steel and has a 70/30 edge. The shop will stamp your initials on the edge. In my case, they put Wolf in kanji on the knife, a very nice touch. I also bought two other items: a grater that should be good for both ginger and garlic; and a pair of fish bone tweezers, something you don't use every day but are very useful in certain circumstances.

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