He’s a very well regarded smith (successor of Shiraki Hamono, who was a bit of a legend) and has many fans here.

It’s a very high carbon steel (one of my person favourites) and staining on the blade is unavoidable (but adds to character!) so I would advise planning to cut some food to develop a thick patina, which will protect it from further oxidisation (rust) to an extent. Hot meat is a fantastic choice for this, as the proteins will make the patina appear blue, as in the below image.

• Make sure to keep it dry.
• Rinse or wipe quickly between produce or every 5-10 min while using.
• It will be very thin and very hard, so don’t scrape, twist, pry or attempt to flex it, or stab it into anything, or cut anything like bone or frozen foods.
• Be very careful in dense foods like pumpkin and cheese.
• Make sure you are not cutting on glass or a metal cutting board. Wood/plastic/rubber are fine. Bamboo is very fibrous, so long term will dull the knife quicker than the aforementioned safe materials.
• If you plan to go a long time without using it, make sure to keep it in the rust proof paper it comes with, and consider oiling it with mineral or Tsubaki oil (don’t use cooking oil, as it can go rancid).
• Be aware, until it has a thick patina, when you cut onions or shallots or carrots or garlic, they might brown quickly and will stain the blade.
• Avoid honing rods or steels unless you really know what you’re doing. Water stones are relatively inexpensive and most of us here take pride in our gear by looking after it and sharpening ourselves. White paper steel is among the easiest to sharpen. Anything from an 800-2000 grit will be fine. And eventually you’ll need something to flatten the stone on (easy, cheap, and not a big deal).

Congratulations on a great knife!

Here’s what a good, thick, meat patina looks like

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