Itsuo Doi

Ituso Doi-san is the son of a legendary blacksmith Keijiro Doi, who perfected the technique of forge-welding steel at the lowest temperature possible and passed it down to his son. Doi-san forge-welds Blue #2 carbon steel with soft cladding steel, and he does this at lower temperatures so that the carbon steel will not lose much of its carbon  during the process. This allows him to make a knife that has a protective coat, without sacrificing some of the hardness.

Originally Doi-san had specialized in single-bevel knives, but Sakai Takayuki convinced him to make double-bevelled knives which gave birth to the Homura series that we carry today.  Homura is an old way of saying flame or blaze. If you see the side of the knife, it has 焔 (Homura: flame) engraved on it. 

These knives are all sharpened by the Yamatsuka family, the resident master sharpeners at Sakai Takayuki. The father, mother and 2 sons work together, and they are the reason this blade looks as stunning as it cuts.