Hatsukokoro Shinkiro

Shinkiro(蜃気楼) in Japanese means "Mirage", it is made with an Aogami Super steel core, with a beautiful Damascus iron cladding on the bevel and Kurouchi finish on top. This serie of knives delivers a combination of great Kireaji(切れ味, the "Cutting Taste"), good edge retention and artistic look.

For most damascus knives, makers will polish them with various methods to reveal their beauty across the blade, therefore it is uncommon to see a combination of unpolished Kurouchi finish put on top of a damascus cladding, the end result however, is rather stunning. Holding the knife spine down, the Kurouchi finish becomes this rough and earthy ground, where the organic damascus pattern in the cladding boils and tumbles above it, then dissipate into the sky represented by the hightly polished core steel. I believe this is the perfect recreation of the Mirage under the blazing sun, a highly artistic utilization and combination of forging techinques and a materiality.

The creator of these beautiful Knives Takahiro Nihei is a young smith trained under Sanjo's famous Yoshikane Hamono. Just like Yoshikane, his pays a lot of attention to the details of his work. The Shinkiro has a typical thick Sanjo heel, a very fast taper to the tip and super thin behind the edge. It is a great cutter that doesn't carry the price tag of its more premium "Hyomon" siblings. Although the carbon core steel and soft iron damascus cladding may be prone to rust, the Kurouchi finish can protect the blade partially from that issue.