Collection: Naoki Mazaki

Mazaki-san is a relatively young blacksmith from Sanjo, who originally comes from Hokkaido. On a motorcycle tour through Japan, he stopped off in Sanjo, where he became aware of the blacksmithing trade. He immediately began an apprenticeship with Yoshikane for 5 years, but then decided not to stay there. This was mainly because Mazakai-san wanted to forge using traditional methods, which was not possible there. Today, he is self-employed and forges all of his knives from carbon steel and then sharpens them by hand using whetstones.

Mazaki prefers the traditional Shirogami #2 for making his knives, leaving a rustic finish on many of his blades. Shirogami is capable of achieving insane sharpness and edge retention. His knives have a distinctly traditional look, but still stand out from the crowd as his own creations.