What Sakai Ichimonji Mitsuhide is known for

Sakai Ichimonji Mitsuhide sells more than 2,000 kinds of kitchen knives from its shop on Doguyasuji in Osaka's Namba district. Hisaka Tanaka opened there in 1953, drawing on the Sakai blade tradition. Single-bevel deba and yanagiba, with usuba for vegetables, lead the Japanese range. Gyuto and petty knives serve Western cooks. Name engraving and sharpening are handled in store, along with handle replacement, and customers bring in inherited knives for a fresh edge.

Sakai Ichimonji Mitsuhide is a knife shop on Doguyasuji, the kitchen-tool street in Osaka's Namba district. Founder Hisaka Tanaka opened there in 1953 against the background of six centuries of Sakai blade making. The company traces its roots to the Keian-era swordsmith Ichimonji Narimune. The store sits on the basement and two lower floors of the Ichimonji Chuki head office building at 14-8 Namba-Sennichimae in Chuo-ku. It carries more than 2,000 kinds of knives, from professional single-bevel Japanese blades to home kitchen knives. Deba for fish, yanagiba for sashimi and usuba for vegetables anchor the Japanese range. Gyuto and petty knives, plus sujihiki slicers, cover Western shapes. Specialty pieces run from soba knives and Chinese cleavers to a tuna knife with a blade a metre and a half long. Whetstones and cutting boards sit alongside. The shop engraves names without charge, and it sharpens blades and replaces handles, so customers bring in knives inherited from grandparents for a fresh edge. Sharpening classes and an event space, Ichitoi, round out the store.