Hatsukokoro Kokugei Blue 1 Kurouchi

The Hatsukokoro Kokugei(黒鯨) is a line all about the value. I say it is best for enthusiasts because normal people won't want a 240mm Kurouchi Gyuto when they wake up in the morning, and have only a small budget to spend on it because they already on the verge of bankruptcy from that Fujiyama Honyaki purchase last night.

Jokes aside, if you are quite into the idea of having a knife with fine Blue 1 carbon steel, and will to put it through a lot of use without caring too much about it being pretty, this line is the discount ticket into that. The series name Kokugei means "Black Whale", and these Kurouchi knives do bear a look of a whale, with scars all over its body.

I wouldn't even try to hide it: the fit and finish is rough. There are grind marks at the choil, there are grind marks on the spine, and hell, there are grind marks on the bevel that aren't completely polished away. Is it unpleasant? Depends on your standard. Does it affect the performance? Very likely not. But again, when a blue 1 240 gyuto is sold at this price, it hard to resist for the right kind of audience.