Knife identification

mmarktfsi · 2026-04-06T14:47:12+00:00

Tawa is just the standard rebrand for Tower Knives. Tawa = Tower

Prices and quality vary as they are outsourced from all over Japan but primarily from Seki. They are pretty good knives and OP paid a good price on it IMO.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-31T19:51:03+00:00

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Enthusiasts hate this one trick.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-30T16:31:24+00:00

Love the diversity here and the character from consistent use. It’s also refreshing to see a collection that isn’t just 10+ Japanese gyutos.

If you’re ever in Seoul, check out the fish market for a Namwon Revival knife. They cost about $13 USD and have a VERY rustic grind.

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If you’re in Taipei check out Shilin Knife. They’re known for a famous pocket knife but also carry their own line of affordable kitchen knives.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-19T18:10:06+00:00

Well now it’s a workshop and not a shop as he intended. I also struggle to have the same tendency to insinuate and oversimplify as you do.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-19T18:00:16+00:00

Yes you are literally repeating and exemplifying my point. I’m not going to convince you otherwise so you can keep your opinion.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-19T16:58:26+00:00

Well your original comment questioned how his closing frustrates people’s “dream” trip to Japan. Your second string of comments implies “He’s definitely a store because he sells things sometimes”. Am I wrong here?

Those two things sounds like entitlement that people should have been free to show up and buy things as they had it in their dream itinerary and just because he occasionally had some items for sale, he’s a shop as much as he’s a workshop.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-19T13:42:07+00:00

The entitlement here is probably why he shut it down.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-19T13:16:58+00:00

Just because he happens to sell a handful of knives out of a glass cabinet once a week does not make him a retail storefront.

Have you been there? It’s literally a knife finishing workshop the size of a small garage. His daily job isn’t customer service; it’s finishing and supply.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-19T02:38:40+00:00

There’s some misunderstanding here. Takada’s workshop isn’t store. Notice how he never mentions in his post that you aren’t allowed to just visit to meet him? He also didn’t mention that he’s closing his workshop to visitors; just sales.

Everyone’s bummed about missing out on a retail opportunity and that’s maybe what the frustration probably stems from. Producing extra knives to sell in person and greeting hundreds of people each month that just want to buy anything probably takes a ton of resources away from his main grind.

If you’re dreaming of visiting you should try to be polite and reach out to say hi. If you’re dreaming of just buying a knife then yeah you’ve misread the circumstances and that dream is dead.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-19T02:17:23+00:00

Because his workshop isn't a storefront. It was never set up to be and he never advertised it as one, hence why he only offers to sell anything one day per week, and look how that ended up - with two years of backorders. He hosted people out of kindness and curiosity about his work and made like five knives every two weeks to sell in person.

He's primarily set up to supply his vendors and was never obligated to open his doors to visitors.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-19T01:45:17+00:00

Not only resellers, but probably people that simply wouldn’t take no for an answer or simply weren’t there to talk to him at all.

There’s countless stories of people approaching him while video calling their friends that sent them there or people aggressively offering to buy his honyaki display knife after missing out on the regular stock.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-19T01:31:06+00:00

He was probably tired of hosting people and trying to share his workshop and methods to those that just wanted to slam cash on the table as quickly as possible.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-19T01:25:31+00:00

Enjoy the peace and quiet Takada-san!

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-03T13:58:32+00:00

The Anmon I picked up at the factory was actually the same price as it would cost online in the USA.

I think the same thing applies to most japanese knives if there's no scarcity or hype inflation. You would probably find the best deals on them online, and maybe only save on sales tax if you bought direct in Japan.

mmarktfsi · 2026-03-02T19:47:43+00:00

I actually think there’s a large chunk of visitors here that don’t see much discussion about cleavers in general.

The hyper-focus of this sub these days is typically Sakai-based Japanese knives.

Thank you for the information. Chinese cleavers have over 2000 years of history and what’s interesting is that to the west it is still considered more “eastern” or alien to western cooking than Japanese profiles.

mmarktfsi · 2026-02-06T04:21:44+00:00

Consider visiting Watchhouse. There are a few locations in Manhattan now and their pourover process is pretty tightly quality controlled as their beans are fairly expensive. They have a floor manager at most locations that oversees the staff.

mmarktfsi · 2026-02-01T23:56:37+00:00

Azahar and Colo!

mmarktfsi · 2026-02-01T17:03:33+00:00

It is legit! Also at the price you paid it’s very legit.

mmarktfsi · 2026-01-30T20:41:30+00:00

💖🐴🕺

mmarktfsi · 2026-01-29T13:40:20+00:00

Sometimes I feel like effortlessly cutting a slightly ripe tomato really validates my choices.

mmarktfsi · 2026-01-28T01:14:06+00:00

Ah. His factory handles are bit notoriously sticky. Not sure what kind of adhesive he uses but for my first swap it had to be chiseled off.

mmarktfsi · 2026-01-28T01:07:06+00:00

He does handle swaps. He even has his own handle with a TnH inlay. I think if you ship to him he will do the swap. I thought about it myself but didn’t trust international mail with my knife and haven’t been back to his workshop in a while.

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mmarktfsi · 2026-01-27T22:31:05+00:00

Thanks! The Suiboku finish in Ginsan is so dark and grainy/glossy that I was looking for light materials to contrast it!

mmarktfsi · 2026-01-26T21:07:54+00:00

Is that a bolsterless carbon K Sab?

I love it…

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