Hitachiya Gokaden Santoku Knife Review

Hitachiya Gokaden Super Blue Steel Santoku Knife

Today we bring you a very special equipment review! As everyone knows knives are one of the essentials equipment of every cook. Without a proper knife, your life in the kitchen will be much difficult. We already had the opportunity to bring you an incredible set of knives by Misen, but today, we’ll step things a little with the Hitachiya Gokaden Santoku Knife.

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A Unique Knife

Nowadays you can easily find thousands of different knives models and brands on the market. But with the mass production of must of these models, it is difficult to find a really good one. Luckily, there are still some brands on the market that know how to make a proper knife.

One of those brands is Hitachiya, a culinary store that specialized in traditional Japanese cookware. Over the past months, we have been using their 7″ (17.8 cm) Gokagen Super Blue Steel Santoku Knife and we are absolutely in love with this knife.

It’s hand-forged in super blue steel for maximum top quality and excellent sharpness. Using super blue steel gives this knife an excellent cutting performance and excellent edge retention. Besides that, it makes the knife easy to sharpen, which means there are no excuses for having a dull knife.

The handle is made in premium mahogany wood and is water-repellent and non-slip. Besides that its triple riveted to the full tang, which gives exceptional strength and durability.

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Professional Performance

Besides being extremely sharp, this knife is also very comfortable to use. Even when used for several hours straight. For home cooks, this may not be very important, but for a professional chef who spends hours in the kitchen cutting food, this factor makes all the difference. It’s obvious that comfort is something personal, that change from person to person, but of all the knives we’ve ever used, this is undoubtedly one of the most comfortable.

Thanks to super blue steel, the Gokaden Santoku Knife it’s extremely durable which means that with the proper care this knife will last you a lifetime. And this is exactly what chefs and some home cooks are looking for. A knife that not only has an excellent cutting performance,  or it’s comfortable to use, but that it lasts “forever”.

Unfortunately, there is a disadvantage in this knife. Using super blue stell has its advantages, but it also has a big drawback. The blade can’t be left on wet conditions, because It’ll rust. For us, this is not an issue, taking into considerations all the advantages of using super blue steel, but we know that for some users this will be a big problem.

However, Hitachiya combines the best of both worlds into their Gokaden Santoku Knife. They use super blue steel on the core, for sharpness and durability, and stainless steel on the surface for some rust resistance. It will not rusty as much as 100% blue steel knife, but still, rust if it’s left on wet condition. But if you do like us, and clean and dry your knife after each use you will have no problem.

History of Gokaden

In addition to what we already mentioned, there is one more thing, its history! The Gokagen knives are inspired in the ancient Japanese battles.

Japanese swords were researched after every battle and were renovated to improve its effects.  Furthermore, many talented blacksmiths started emerging during the late Heian to the Kamakura period and five producing districts-Yamato, Bizen, Yamashiro, Soushu, Mino-were established. Each one, with their own style and technique in forging Japanese swords.

In the Katana industry, these five areas became generically known as the “Gokaden” during the Meiji period(1868-1911).

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Final Thoughts

As we already said, the Gokaden Santoku knife is a true work of art. For us, it has everything we love in a knife. It’s extremely sharp, very comfortable to use and it looks awesome. Besides all this, It is hand-forged in the mythical Echizen Takefu Knife Village, which leaves any knives enthusiast, like us with an eye on this model.

If you are looking for a Japanese style knife, and if you are willing to spend extra money on a professional model, the Hitachiya Gokaden Santoku, maybe the knife you are looking for.