Sakai Kikumori

Sakai Kikumori is the brand of Kawamura Hamono Co., Ltd., founded in February 1926 as a wholesaler of Sakai knives and based at 3-1-7 Zaimoku-cho Higashi in Sakai-ku, Sakai City, Osaka — the same forging district as Aritsugu and Sakai Ichimonji Mitsuhide, but an independently run house. The company's own site names its current representative as Toshio Kawamura and states the firm received the 'Sakai Wazashu' certification (No. 0075) from Sakai's Chamber of Commerce in April 2011, a formal local recognition of craftsmanship within the city's blade-making trade.

The house makes both Japanese-style single-bevel knives and Western-style double-bevel chef's knives, including knives specialized for noodle-cutting and pastry work — a broader product range than a single-purpose kitchen-knife maker. Knives are made by named local craftspeople the company associates itself with in third-party retailer profiles, including Yoshikazu Tanaka, Satoshi Nakagawa, and Tomoyuki Ajioka, consistent with Sakai's tradition of separately credited forging and sharpening specialists.

The company maintains an active English-language site with current contact details and an Instagram presence, and multiple independent Japanese-knife retailers (Bernal Cutlery, Knifewear, Carbon Knife Co.) currently list Sakai Kikumori as an actively shipped, in-production brand, corroborating that it is a currently operating manufacturer rather than a defunct or dormant one.