Collection: Hideo Kitaoka

Hideo Kitaoka is the third generation in his family to become a master blacksmith and he is the only blacksmith specializing in single-bevel knives in Takefu Knife Village. For more than 30 years, he has been carrying on his family’s tradition, after learning the art from his father and grandfather. Kitaoka-san’s workstation is the first one you see when you enter the workshop at Knife Village. His hammer is beside Kato-san’s hammer, but it’s much louder than Kato-san’s, because single-bevel knives are much thicker than double bevels, and that steel needs more power to be shaped. One of my favourite sights at Knife Village is watching Kitaoka-san shape the blade with his hammer. He turns the blade vertically and hammers the spine to curve of the tip of the blade. He controls it with such ease.