Hatsukokoro by Muneishi Kumokage Damascus

It means Cloud Shadow. H&K, the company behind the Hatsukokoro brand, writes the name 雲影 and gives the English as Cloud Shadow.

The same H&K page describes the line as a kitchen knife of Blue 2 steel made by Tosa craftsmen with a kurouchi Damascus finish.

No. H&K lists the Kumokage as iron clad over Blue 2 Damascus, and our line entry records a soft iron clad.

Blue 2 is not stainless either: Proterial lists its chromium at 0.20 to 0.50%, well under the 10.5% minimum the JSSA sets for stainless. After washing, wipe and dry the whole blade, not just the edge.

The name comes from the Japanese proverb 初心忘るべからず, which means don't forget your original intention. The company read it gently as hatsukokoro rather than shoshin.

H&K created the brand in 2019, six years after the company was founded, and chose the name for its knife line.

Hatsukokoro (初心) is a brand, not a forge. H&K, a company founded in 2013 and based in Amagasaki, Hyogo, created it in 2019.

H&K names the producer for some lines, for example Shinkiro by Takahiro Nihei in Fukushima, Ginyou by Yoshihiro Yauji in Echizen and Kurosagi by Motokyuichi Hamono in Nagasaki, and keeps others confidential. Some knives we stock carry the maker in the title, such as Hatsukokoro x Yoshikane SKD Nashiji.

Proterial lists 1.05 to 1.15% carbon for both steels; its Blue 2 table lists 0.20 to 0.50% chromium and 1.00 to 1.50% tungsten, while its White 2 table lists neither.

Proterial describes White 2 as a carbon steel with minimum impurities and high hardness, and Blue 2 as an alloy steel with tungsten and chromium to improve heat-treatment properties and wear resistance, with a hardening hardness of over 60 HRC for both. In its Japanese materials, Proterial calls its Aogami (青紙) steels high-carbon steel (高炭素鋼). Neither steel is close to the JSSA's 10.5% minimum for stainless.