Moritaka Hamono

Moritaka Hamono is a bladesmithing house at 434 Miyaji-machi, Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture — not one of the Sakai or Seki forging towns, but a continuously operating smithy the company's own English site traces to 1293, when its founder made swords for the Buddhist priesthood at Mt. Homan in Dazaifu. The family relocated to Yatsushiro in 1632 in the service of the Hosokawa clan and continued sword production for roughly thirteen generations before an ancestor, Chuzaemon Moritaka, redirected the forge toward kitchen knives and edged agricultural and forestry tools five generations ago.

The workshop's own site confirms it is currently operating: it lists a working phone line, an [email protected] contact address, daily hours from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and factory tours available on request by email. It produces hand-forged kitchen knives across santoku, nakiri, yanagiba, gyuto, and deba styles in Aogami #2 and Aogami Super carbon steel, sold both as standard stock and made-to-order, and is now led by the family's 27th generation.

Moritaka's raw, unpolished kurouchi (black-forged) finish — the blade left in its just-forged state rather than mirror-buffed — is the house's signature look, distinguishing it from the more heavily finished blades of Sakai. Multiple independent specialist retailers (Knifewear, Cutlery and More, Chef Knives To Go) currently carry the brand, corroborating ongoing production.