# Hiya, I need a little help with my Japanese kitchen knife



## mschmitz (Apr 25, 2022)

Hi, I am from Germany new here and need a little help with my Japanese kitchen knife. Does anyone know the blacksmith of my knife? Unfortunately I can't read the Japanese signs (see attached images).

Cheerio,

Michael


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## Matus (Apr 25, 2022)

Welcome to the forums. I am going to move your thread to a general area.


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## Atso_J (May 1, 2022)

I'm fairly certain the top three characters on the backside spell 青鋼ニ (blue steel two). Never seen ニ circled though. The bottom characters are a bit obscured. Maybe if you could get a better closeup of those?

On the front side I haven't been able to crack the top one yet but the bottom one is quite possibly if not almost certainly 水 (mizu, water in English but that's not important as it's part of a name). I'll keep whacking at it!


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## Greasylake (May 1, 2022)

Atso_J said:


> I'm fairly certain the top three characters on the backside spell 青鋼ニ (blue steel two). Never seen ニ circled though. The bottom characters are a bit obscured. Maybe if you could get a better closeup of those?


You are correct that the first two characters on the ura are 青鋼, the mark in the center though is a maker's mark, not 二. The bottom two characters I don't recognize right off the bat, so I'm not sure what they are. 

The second character on the front side is definitely 水, and in this case I think it would most likely be read as sui. Hopefully this helps? I'm gonna go study some more kanji now


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## Atso_J (May 1, 2022)

Greasylake said:


> The second character on the front side is definitely 水, and in this case I think it would most likely be read as sui.


Possibly. I believe names are mostly read using kun'yomi though (like 正本 as Masamoto and not Seihon), but we're getting a bit off topic here. We'll find out which one makes sense when the first kanji is solved.


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## Atso_J (May 1, 2022)

I may have figured the front. 寒水 looks really close and on'yomi reading would be "kansui" meaning cold water so it kinda makes more sense than "samumizu". Can't get a proper hit with a search though...


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## fritze (May 1, 2022)

Hi,
I think the knife is from Kobayashi Hontan Seikon Dojo.
There is a lefty yanagiba with the same round kanji or makers mark on the backside available on epicedge.com


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## Atso_J (May 1, 2022)

fritze said:


> Hi,
> I think the knife is from Kobayashi Hontan Seikon Dojo.
> There is a lefty yanagiba with the same round kanji or makers mark on the backside available on epicedge.com


Nice find! The ura side is identical.


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