Master Blacksmith Masashi Yamamoto is Visiting Vancouver!

The details:

Japanese knife making has a 1200 year old tradition of raging forges, glowing steel, and back-breaking work. It involves honing craftsmanship and expertise over not just years or decades, but a lifetime. There aren’t many people who carry the weight of history and tradition as intensely as the blacksmith, and there aren’t many nearly as revered and mimicked as the Japanese blade maker. Knifewear is lucky enough to work with the people that keep this trade alive in Japan.

We are very proud to be bringing Masashi Yamamoto, master blacksmith and one of our most popular knifemaking partners to back to Vancouver. 

Masashi-san visited last year and travelled all over Canada on that trip, you can read more about that visit here. 

More about Masashi Yamamoto

Masashi-san started his own workshop in 2013, after learning the family trade alongside his older brother Kazuomi at Yoshikane Hamono (Yoshikane Knife Factory). Only in his mid-40s, Masashi is still a young man in the context of a blacksmith’s career. Despite his youth, he makes beautifully polished and sharp blades one would expect from a knifemaker more advanced in age. Another truly remarkable thing about him is that he works entirely by himself, hand-making all of his blades, sharpening and polishing them, putting on the handles, the whole enchilada. Finally, his coolness goes beyond his talent. He’s a risk taker, and a classic macho bad boy. He likes to forge knives in his flip-flops as well as light cigarettes off the glowing pieces of steel he works with. We can’t wait for Masashi’s visit when we can hang out with this legend.