About The Ishikawa Houchou Manufactory's
Kajibee Santoku Knife (Blue Paper Steel/Stainless)

The Niigata Prefecture, Tsubame-Sanjō has been named as a place of manufacturing knives since ancient times, and many artisan cultures have been nurtured.

Known as the "Blacksmith City" which have prosperous blacksmithing technology, it is also known for making good knives.

In this Tsubame-Sanjō land, the "Kajibee" brand is introduced. The craftsman who inherited this brand made it one by one earnestly with the skill of tradition.
It is a "blacksmith's knife" which carefully finished one by one.

The material is a three layer structure of blue paper steel (Yasuki blue paper steel) and stainless steel, stacked together into one layer.

Blue paper steel is a material that is frequently used for high grade kitchen knife. Blue paper steel is superior for its sharpness quality among other steels.

The blue paper steel is placed between the rust-resistance stainless steel so it could keep a sharp cutting edge and suppresses rust.

Therefore, this is a perfect kitchen knife for you who can not be satisfied with the sharpness of the common home kitchen knife.

About The Santoku Knife

The Santoku Knife (三徳包丁) is an all-purpose kitchen knife originated in Japan.

The word santoku in Japanese means "three virtues" or "three uses".
Therefore, it can be use for slicing, dicing, and mincing.

This knife is characterized by its relatively small size (between 13 to 20 cm) and a lightweight knife. The santoku knife's blade is thinner than any other knives, making it is easy to use for a precision cut.
The knife can be a double-edged / single-edged knife, so it can be used for both right or left-handed people.

Santoku knife was created by combining Nakiri Bocho knife (Japanese traditional knife used for cutting vegetables) and Gyuto knife (knife for cutting meat).

Learn more about the santoku knife in our article link below!

All You Need to Know About The Japanese All-purpose Knife: Santoku Knife
The santoku knife is one of the essential kitchen utensils both for a beginner cook to professional chefs. It is a commonly use knife in the Japanese kitchen.
Let's learn about the santoku knife's usage, the history of the santoku knife, and other useful information you should know before using the santoku knife.
Read more

The History of Tsubame-Sanjō, "The Blacksmith City"

The genealogy of manufacturing of Niigata Prefecture, Tsubame-Sanjō goes back to the Edo period.
The place was prospered as a place to create Japanese metal nails since the early Edo Period (1603 – 1868).

In the early days of the Kan'ei period, the farmers have difficulty making a living by doing agriculture alone because of the repeated flood from the Ikarashi River flowing through the center of the Sanjo Town.

Therefore, the farmer invited the craftsmen of Japanese metal nail making from Edo to teach them about their manufacturing technologies.

This is the beginning of the Japanese metal nail making in Tsubame-Sanjō.

After that, new blacksmithing technology is transmitted, and products are changed from Japanese metal nails to sickles and kitchen knife, etc.

At the same time, many blacksmith are nurtured.
The farmers who started the blacksmith job as side jobs are becoming professional blacksmiths.

When entering the Meiji period (1868 - 1912), the full-time blacksmiths had increased rapidly.

"The Blacksmith City", Tsubame-Sanjō is popularly known after merchants start to trade for hardware products with making use of rivers as the access to the town.

After the war, the mass production of the products progressed.
The product from Tsubame-Sanjō become widely distributed in Japan and also worldwide.

Currently, the manufactures in Tsubame-Sanjō are mainly processing metals.

Many of useful instruments like kitchen goods such as kitchen knives and kitchen tools and utensils, living goods, gardening goods, etc. are produced widely in the city.

About Ishikawa Houchou Manufactory

It is a blacksmith located in Sanjo City, Niigata Prefecture.

They have been producing many of blacksmith products, but now they mainly produce kitchen knives.

The professional craftsmen who inherited Sanjo's traditional blacksmithing technique are making the knife one by one carefully everyday.

The Features of The Ishikawa Houchou Manufactory's
Kajibee Santoku Knife (Blue Paper Steel/Stainless)

EXCELLENT SHARPNESS BY USING THE YASUKI BLUE PAPER STEEL

This knife is using "Yasuki Blue Paper Steel" material.

Although this "Yasuki Blue Paper Steel" is a frequently used material for the high-quality kitchen knife, the quality is divined from yellow paper steel, white paper steel, and black paper steel depending to its hardness and composition.

Among them, "blue paper steel" has the highest grade and often become material for high-grade kitchen knives that professional chefs loved.

Meanwhile, the "white paper steel" is ideal for making knives with fewer impurities, excellent hardness, and excellent sharpness, but it is easy to rust and easy to break.

To compensate for it, "blue paper steel" is made by adding chromium, tungsten, etc. to the white paper steel.

Because of that, the "blue paper steel" is not only sharp, it is also harder to rust than white paper steel.
The "blue paper steel" is a supple knife with long lasting sharpness.

A knife that cuts well and suppresses rust because of the stainless steel placed between the steel

This is a knife with a three-layer structure of stainless steel that is placed between blue paper steel.

Even though the "blue paper steel" is one of the rust-resistant steel, steel is a material with high carbon that will inherently become rusty.

By using stainless steel for both of the surface layers, it can suppress rust from appearing on the entire blade.

As you continue to use it, the part of the cutting edge will inevitably get rusted.
In that case, we recommend that you grind the cutting edge with a grindstone, whetstone or the like.
Sharpening reduces rust and improves sharpness.

If you are a person who cleans knives yourself day by day, you can use as long as you sharpen according to your pace.

There is a inscription indicating the brand name, 「かじ兵衛」 (Kajibee).

The handle is made with chestnut tree's wood, with a shape that is easy to grab.

How to Care and The Proper Usage

After use, please wash the dirt off, wipe it with cloth after rinsing it with hot/warm water, and keep it dry.

(Kitchen knife is weak to acid, salt, and moisture)

If you plan to not use it for a long time,
spray it with vegetable oil (such as Camellia oil) throughout the knife after drying it.
After that, wrap it in newspaper or thin papers and keep it in a place with no humidity.

Please avoid leaving it in a knife stand for a long time.
The handle may be too dry and the blade may come off or it may rust with moisture.

Also, please use special kitchen knife to handle frozen foods instead of this knife.

It is Also Good as Presents

The Ishikawa Houchou Manufactory's Kajibee Santoku Knife is shipped in a special dressing box.

You can also use it as presents.

It is an ideal gifts for those who like cuisine, and having interest in using kitchen utensils.

The Ishikawa Houchou Manufactory's
Kajibee Santoku Knife (Blue Paper Steel/Stainless) Product Gallery

The Ishikawa Houchou Manufactory's Knife List

Size / Specification

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PRODUCT DETAILS

Size:	Length: 315mm、 Blade Length: 165mm
Weight:	125g
Material:	Blade: stainless steel and Yasuki Blue Paper Steel Handle: Chestnut tree
Country of Origin:	Japan (Sanjo City, Niigata Prefecture)