# Konosuke Fujiyama; A History



## Omega

*Konosuke Fujiyama; a History*

The Konosuke Fujiyama is in contention for one of the best known knives of the past ten years. From their beginnings as an amazing performance-per-dollar knife with stellar fit and finish, to the more recent relative scarcity that have pushed aftermarket prices, and necessitated a buyer be ready to check out within minutes of a new batch, they have quite the history. Whether you love them or hate them, there’s a solid chance you’re well aware of them.

For me personally, Konosuke specifically is the reason why I am into Japanese knives to this day. Between a certain YouTube video of a Konosuke Honyaki, and a video of one of the first group buys from the original Knife Forums back in 2009, I went from saying “I could never spend that much for a knife!” to “…how can I get one?” in short order. But as that budding obsession took hold, and I ventured to the forums to hopefully find answers, I wound up with only more questions.

Who was the blacksmith?
Who was the sharpener?
What was the difference between the steels?
Why did some people swear up and down that the Blue 2s were magical, and the White steel variants would sit for weeks untouched? 
Was there any truth to statements of “the Fujiyama of today are NOTHING like what they used to be” ?

Truthfully, it all seemed for not. I felt like instead of answers, I only found conflicting opinions. Frustrated, I stubbornly kept on; and that leads me to today-

I have spent the last four years reading, collecting, examining, and finally speaking with members of Konosuke personally. With this write up I hope to offer the best overview of the line that can be had. What follows below is both a history of the evolution of the Fujiyama, along with profile pictures, choil shots, and measurements of Twenty Four different Fujiyama gyuto.

If you don’t much care for the story of the inception of the Fujiyama, feel free to skip to below. I have included pictures of every Fujiyama referenced in this article, concluded with a master table of every knife, and all the notable measurements and details.

---

When the president of Kosuke Kawamura went to open Konosuke knives in 2007, he had a very specific vision- he wanted to make new, exciting knives that hadn’t been seen before in Sakai. It was with this goal he approached the many storied blacksmiths and sharpeners of Sakai. One by one he met with them, and explained what he hoped to do- wanting to breath new life and options for creativity into the knife making community, and to raise the standard of living of everyone therein.

And one by one, he was rejected.

He was told he was naïve and foolish; that that’s not how things were done; that it wouldn’t work. No one believed in him or what he wanted to do.

Until he met a sharpener- Hiromi Morimoto, ‘Morihiro’.







Seen: Kosuke, left, and Morihiro, right

Morihiro heard what Kosuke wanted to do and was excited. The idea of getting to push his sharpening technique in, different ways.. to have more freedom to be creative.. this was captivating to him. Together, Morihiro and Kosuke set out to design something new- and thus created the Fujiyama.





Believe it or not, this was the first time a double bevel knife had ever been fashioned like this. The defined shinogi. The diagonal scratch markets on the hira. The lengthwise finishing on the kiraha. These were pioneered by Kosuke and Morihiro back in 2007. These stylings seem ubiquitous today- they can be had from places like Jikko and Kagekiyo. But these are all copies of the design Kosuke and Morihiro came up with back at the start of Konosuke back in 2007.

In addition to the profile of the knife, Morihiro implemented two other interesting facets that are mainstays on the Fujiyama to this very day- his way of mirror polishing and shaping the choil and spine. Iconic amongst those who love Fujiyama, creating this is no easy task- Morihiro actually had to design a new piece of equipment to accomplish this, and is why so few other knives have this styling: the only other individuals that can do it are those that have trained under Morihiro, and recreated this machine.
















In this way, the Fujiyama is integral to the history of Konosuke as a company- the first original design, the proof of concept that there was still innovation to be had in knives, and the first step towards the future Kosuke hoped to help bring about.

Anyone who has used a Fujiyama can attest to their incredible grinds- but as we knife nuts know well, the grind is only half the story. The forging and heat treatment of the blade plays an important role. And for the Fujiyama, Konosuke employed one of the best in Sakai: Yoshikazu Tanaka.





Seen: Yoshikazu Tanaka

It’s hard to describe Tanaka-san in a way that does him justice. A true craftsman, he’s made it his life’s goal to try and unlock the full potential of hitachi carbon steel. Across years of crawling the forums, I’d come across different anecdotes of “the Fujiyama blacksmith’s favorite steel is blue”; or “the Fujiyama blacksmith is good at all steels, but he’s especially great in White 1”.

Having had a chance to use every single steel he offers, I can say this- he has a mastery of them all. I feel incredibly confident in saying, no matter what steel Fujiyama you purchase, you will not be getting one of lesser quality. If you have a preference, let that be your guide.

Now, this brings me to an important part of this history- in all my digging, I saw much pondering about the identities of the Fujiyama craftsmen, with many people speculating that across time and across steels, the craftsmen are different. They’d say, perhaps, for the Fujiyama san mai gyutos in white steels, up until 2014 it was one set of craftsmen, and then it changed. Or that they had multiple craftsmen in their employ and that they rotated from offering to offering.


This is Not the case.

For _ALL_ san mai Fujiyama gyuto in White 1, White 2, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Blue Super:
The Blacksmith has, and continues to be Yoshikazu Tanaka.
The sharpener was exclusively- until 2018, Morihiro.

After 2018, we saw the introduction of two knew version of the Fujiyama- the FM and the FT. Both of these are Not sharpened by Morihiro.

Sometimes people will swear up and down that they saw information to the contrary posted on major retailer websites. As best I can tell, they are referring to these statements I was able to pull from the CKTG website from 2015:



 (*)




 (*)

In the first instance, the text means to say that the Blacksmith for the Fujiyama is different from the blacksmith of other non-Fujiyama Konosuke lines (HD/HD2, GS+, HH, etc.)

In the second instance, the text refers specifically to the Honyaki. For that case, yes- the blacksmith responsible for the Blue-steel traditional Fujiyama style wide bevel honyaki is a different blacksmith and sharpener than the White-steel laser style honyaki.

Blue Steel, Fujiyama-style Honyaki



 (*)

_(*) The use of the 3 print-grabs from the CKTG webapage was authorized by Mark Richmond of CKTG_

White Steel, laser-style Honyaki





But, again- for ALL san mai Fujiyama gyuto, in White 1, White 2, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Blue Super, from 2007 until 2018:

The Blacksmith was Yoshikazu Tanaka

The Sharpener was Morihiro


To be fair, I can certainly understand why individuals might be compelled to think different craftsmen are involved- as you examine samples from year to year, a person does tend to see slight variation over time. From conversations with Kosuke and other members of the Konosuke staff, this largely seems to be a function of Morihiro. Never satisfied, he constantly was iterating on his designs, trying both to get better as a sharpener, but also to constantly improve what he thought the Fujiyama should be.

To date, I have had the opportunity to view of 50 Fujiyama, and have been able to compare 24 different samples, in different steels and from different years, concurrently. From this, I feel I can say I’ve observed a few general trends that allow all Fujiyama to be divided into four groups:

2007-2012
2013 – 2015
2016 - 2017
2018+


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## Omega

Lets talk about them:

First off, 2007 to 2012.
By far, this is my least represented group. Finding knives from those early years is very difficult.. even more so if you’re trying to find knives that haven’t been sharpened and or thinned. In all, I’ve found five examples that I’ve trusted to be non-altered, and can provide three pictures for people to see, below:

In this time, Morihiro was really pushing the limits of what Tanaka’s forging could handle. Fujiyama from this era seem to be impressively thin throughout. While later years would have similar thinness down at the edge, none would have the overall extreme laser feel. As you can see versus the control Konosuke HD, a knife marketed as a laser, a few of the Fujiyama are actually thinner at the spine.

2013-2015
This is the next major era, and allows me to show off one of my favorite aspects of my collection- a complete 240 gyuto set, from the same time, in all five steels. Admittedly, I think this is one of the most prominent time frames of Fujiyama- many more of these are around today than any of the other eras, save for perhaps the new FMs.

In general, the Fujiyama of this time got just a tad thicker at the spine. And that’s it… People have said before that the white’s varied significantly from the blues at this time- but if you look at the choil shots and the measurements, I think they’re a lot more similar than people let on.

2016-2017
Unfortunately, around this time, Fujiyama production really began to slow down. Very few shipments came in, and when they did, they were in fewer numbers than before. When inquiring with Konosuke why this might be the case, the answer that kept coming back was that it was because of Morihiro. After nearly a decade of making Fujiyama, and constantly trying to push his technique, he felt he had reached the peak of his abilities. In this, he felt.. almost lost. His desire for sharpening- of all knives –dropped. For a time, the only joy he felt from sharpening was in teaching young craftsmen his skill. 

During this time Kosuke searched for things to help re-ignite that passion; to help inspire the creativity that had initially conceived of the Fujiyama, and hoped to bring back Morihiro’s drive. After two years of brainstorming and conversations, a new idea formed- the Vintage Carbon Kasumi. But that’s getting ahead of things- more on that later.

Despite not enjoying his work, we do see another trend emerge from Morihiro in this era- another thickening at the spine. If anything though, this worked to accentuate just how incredibly thin Morihiro was able to get these knives at the edge.

2018+
This category is an interesting one in that I need to split it into two qualifications: Fujiyama sharpened by Morihiro, and Fujiyama sharpened by either the FM or FT sharpeners.

There are very few offerings by Morihiro in this time frame- to date, only three samples. The first is four wide bevel Togo Reigo, the second is four “kasumi” Togo Reigo, that sport a radical departure from his typical Fujiyama grind, and the third is a random, incredibly limited run of 270mm B2 wide bevel gyuto.

For the wide bevel knives, these look incredibly similar to the 2016-2017 counterparts: the Togo Reigo wide bevel get a little wider still, and the B2 270 has the ever-so-slightest tweak to the geometry.. Word was that Morihiro had a sudden inspiration, and wanted to challenge himself. 

The other groupings are the FM and FT Fujiyama.
Throughout 2016 and beyond, as Morihiro’s desire for sharpening waned, Kosuke started the search for a sharpener that could take the reigns. As one might expect, this was proved to be very difficult- finding someone with the talent to execute their vision, while being able to maintain consistency, was not easy. For so long, the Fujiyama was the pinnacle of what Konosuke put out: they wanted to make sure that any new craftsmen that took up the mantle would be able to continue the tradition of excellence.

Somewhere in this timeframe, they made connection with an extremely talented and accomplished sharpener. A relationship was built, and the new sharpener began to train- now directly with Konosuke, and Morihiro personally. After two long years of coaching and improving, he was ready to take the helm of general Fujiyama production- the ‘FM’ Fujiyama was born. Upon inspecting some of his first official production of the line, Morihiro was very impressed, state the new sharpeners skill was among the top in all of Japan. In true Japanese fashion, however, he insisted the new sharpener not be told this, so that his fire to improve would stay strong.

Later, in 2019, another variant was introduced- the ‘FT’ Fujiyama. These knives, also forged by Tanaka, are the project of another incredibly talented sharpener. These Fujiyama have a different grind from the FM Fujiyama, and sport a ‘frosted’ Damascus-like finish.

To the date of this writing, the identities of the FM and FT sharpeners have not been released to the public.


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## Omega

For those thinking words without pictures are kind of a waste, then this next section is what you’ve been waiting for: the profile and choil shot of 27 Konosuke knives; 25 Fujiyama, one White 2 Honyaki, and an original HD. 

Below that is a Master Table of Statistics, with multiple data points for each knife presented. 

*#1 2014 Blue 2 240mm*










*#2 2014 Blue 2 240mm*










*#3 2018 Blue 2 FM 240mm*










*#4 2014 Blue Super 240mm*










*#5 2013 Blue 1 240mm*


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## Omega

*#6 2015 Ginsan 240mm*
....this one needs a thinning...










*#7 2017 Ginsan (MM) 240mm*










*#8 2016 Blue 2 240mm*










*#9 2012 White 1 240mm*










*#10 2014 White 2 240mm*


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## Omega

*#11 2015+ Blue 1 KU 240mm **










*#12 2016 Blue 1 240mm*










*#13 2014 White 1 240mm*










*#14 2016 Blue 2 Honyaki 240mm*










*#15 2018 Togo Reigo Wide Bevel 240mm*


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## Omega

*#16 2018 Togo Reigo Kasumi 240mm*










*#17 2012 Blue 2 270mm*










*#18 2016 White 2 270mm*










*#19 2015 Blue Super 270mm*










*#20 2017 Blue 1 270mm*


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## Omega

*#21 2018 Blue 2 270mm (Morihiro Special Edition)*










*#22 2012 White 2 240mm*

have to reupload... sorry


*#23 2019 Blue Super FM 270*














*#24 2019 Blue Super FM 240*










*#25 (No Pictures, only measurements)*


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## Omega

*#26 2014 White 2 Honyaki*














*#27 2017 Anniversary HD 240mm*


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## Omega

MASTER TABLE OF STATISTICS










Legend of the Table:

Column 1: What’s the significance of the number?
None.
Just the order I happened to measure them

Year:
This is, as accurately as I can track down, the year the knife was initially purchased.
Some of these were purchased new by me.
Some of these I have to take at the word of the person who sold it to me.
Some of these have been corroborated by Kosuke

Steel:
Hopefully self explanatory.

Length:
First number is the advertised length.
Second number is the actual, measured length

Height:
Height from heel to spine, directly at choil.

Weight / Handle:
The weight of each knife, in grams.

The handles I tried to be as specific as possible.
All aftermarket handles are marked as custom.
SK stands for Studio Khii- the newer shop that supplies some of Konosuke’s handles.
Ho Wood and Kono Ebony are the original, standard handles.
The Rosewood handles are official Konosuke handles as well.

Jindai Tamo is a type of Japanese bog wood. I believe these were made by Studio Khii.


Thickness:
I took three measurements of each knife.
1) Directly Above the Choil
2) At the end of the Kanji. For knives without Kanji, I tried to be as close to the same spot as possible
3) At the end of the shinogi, on the cladding transition, or in an equivalent spot on those that don’t have one

*Miscellaneous
The Blue 1 Kurouchi- those numbers are the only one I contemplated not adding, as it has been flattened and sharpened on quite a bit. 
The initial height was 50-51mm for reference.

For those interested in seeing things parsed out more; here are the knives divided year. This is the exact same information as above, just organized differently.








As you can see, across all steels, we see very, very similar numbers. Additionally, here is a photo of each choil shot edited side-by-side:





So when people say one steel is vastly superior to the others? I wouldn’t buy it. PERHAPS that user had a particularly eclectic example from a given set… But much more often then not, the differences between models are tiny.

Also, here is my treasured “all steels” group shot-







Crazy to me how incredibly similar these all are, despite some being released many months apart. The outlier, of course, being the White 2.


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## Omega

Togo Reigo
The Vintage Swedish Carbon or Togo Reigo Fujiyama represent a very special ongoing project from Konosuke- and special for a couple reasons. The first is the most obvious- the core steel. These knives use a very rare, and incredibly-difficult-to-forge-correctly steel known as Togo Reigo. This steel was made in the late 19th Century by the British Andrew Steel Company, and imported into Japan. It’s important, because at this time, most of the country relied on Tamahagane, which was both incredibly difficult to produce, but also arduous to process correctly. To some extent, Togo Reigo was like a super steel for them back in the day. 

But does that mean its all hype?
Not at all. 

For one, it is a very pure steel, with few impurities or additives, kind of like white 1; only it has a much higher carbon content- 1.5 – 1.6. For reference, hitachi labels their white 1 as being 1.25-1.35- and that’s the highest carbon content white they have. According to hitachi, their blue super contains around 1.40-1.50 percent carbon. 

So this kind of helps understand why it gets described as being as easy to sharpen as white 1, but has edge holding like blue super- it has a greater purity than the former, and a higher carbon content than the latter. 

What makes it so difficult to forge?
From what I understand, its mostly that it has a very, very narrow temperature range for forging and quenching- taking the steel outside this range will deteriorate the end product.. Of these two, especially the quench is perilous; blades can be lost entirely if not forged really, really well. And when you’re dealing with steel that hasn’t been in production since the 1950s, this is especially perilous. 

So just from the materials used aspect, the Vintage Swedish Carbon series from Konosuke is super cool- an incredibly old steel, with amazing performance when forged correctly, with a lot of historical implications for Japan’s steel-using-industries, that helps to show the immense skill of Tanaka-san, the Fujiyama Blacksmith. During the first couple runs back in 2014, Konosuke styled these as they did all Fujiyama at the time. But much more interesting is how things have progressed to today. 

As I had said before, for a time, Morihiro was feeling very lost with respect to sharpening. All his life he had strived to improve and get better.. and, to some extent, he felt he had reached the peak of what he was capable of. In wanting to help his friend, Kosuke began to talk about creating a new project- something they hadn’t done before; something to let Morihiro really stretch out and try something new, like when they had created the Fujiyama all those years ago. 

The end result of this is the Togo Reigo Kasumi. 





From the choil shot alone, you can see this is a radical departure from the wide bevel style Morihiro was famous for. The extremely thin, hamaguriba grind. The natural stone finish. Morihiro pushed himself hard with these- going as far as to severely cut back on his use of the large wheel stone, only using it to set the rough dimensions of each blade. He estimates that 70% of his process is done on bench stones- something that is unheard of in Sakai knife making. Its just too slow- the name of the game for most companies is being fast, and producing volume. 

But for these, Morihiro took his time, and again crafted a knife unlike anything Sakai had seen. 

Its hard to put into words just how special these blades are, too- a true natural stone polish like this.. it just doesn’t exist out of Sakai, for a couple reasons. For one, it’s the time- if you request a natural stone polish on your knife from any other sharpener, at best you’re getting some fingerstones rubbed on the blade after a standard mirror polish. They don’t have time to do what most people are envisioning, which is a full progression of natural stones like are seen on Nihonto. 

The second reason is skill- the sharpeners in Sakai just don’t have the practice with natural stones. That’s not to say they’re unskilled as sharpeners- far from it! Its just to say, there’s not near as much overlap in using a large water wheel and synthetics to grind a knife to shape.. and having the encyclopedic knowledge of stones, and years of experience in your hands that a finish like this takes. The fact that Morihiro even CAN do this, much less Does do it, is a real anomaly in Sakai. 

In a weird way, the legacy of Konosuke is very tied to this project, or at least Morihiro’s place. Konosuke really began because Morihiro and Kosuke wanted to make knives unlike any that had been seen before out of Japan. And here we are, over a decade later- a decade in which their success has driven their competitors to try and copy their style –and they’ve done it again. 

This is the Konosuke Togo Reigo project- an excellent, rare, history laden steel; forged perfectly by one of the best living Blacksmiths; sharpened to a near art form by a craftsmen who constantly wants to improve.


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## Omega

The FM Fujiyama
Hype is an interesting thing- we see it from time to time on different knives in the community, and its effects are varied. For some people, there’s a giant push of wanting to see what all the talk is about. For others, there’s a near instant response of dismissal and disdain- ‘why would I buy THAT when I can buy THIS over here for so much cheaper’. For others yet again, there’s a constant search for something new- hoping to get in on a product before it explodes in popularity. 

Whichever side of that you land on, there’s no doubt that the Fujiyama has been one such product of hype. Whether its deserved or not is a subject many people like to throw their opinions at; but result of it on the future of Fujiyama is a little more concrete. 

As I’ve said before, one of the things Morihiro and Kosuke always want to do is to improve; to innovate. So as the future of the Fujiyama seemed to be unclear, with Morihiro not wanting to sharpen, Kosuke began to ponder what the next step could be. If the Fujiyama were to evolve… what would that look like?

After much searching, and then even more training, they had a sharpener they were proud of. For the future of the Fujiyama, they wanted to be sure to lean into his strengths- his now freakish ability to dial in thinness behind the cutting edge. 

This led them to an interesting point- did they want to do wide bevel knives, or hamaguriba? 
While they had pioneered the style years prior, now it’s a very common thing to see from Sakai- whether true wide bevel, or just finished to give the knives a fake shinogi. Additionally, this was another chance to do something new- they felt, that unless they could produce a new wide bevel that was significantly above what Morihiro could do, they wanted to do something different. 

And so, the new, hamaguri-style FM Fujiyama was born. 

To be fair, I can understand the initial hesitation that was echoed in the community. There was something very iconic about Morihiro’s wide-bevel Fujiyama. And while the new FM Fujiyama certainly looked nice.. I wasn’t sure I was entirely on board. So, for those of you who have been sitting on the sidelines, wondering- this next section is for you. While not nearly as exhaustive in research as the above section, here is a break down of the old stock Fujiyama to the FMs.

The Grind
Pictures tell this one best- here is a group shot I edited together of the choil shots of every Blue 2 Fujiyama I have:





Very thin down by the edge, though perhaps a little more thickness in the middle third. That said, in deep enough cuts that go up the blade, the FM will always feel to have less resistance, as it doesn’t have a “shoulder” from a shinogi line. 

Another aspect I was worried about when they announced the sharpener would be different was the spine and choil- for me personally, no other knife has a spine and choil I like more than the Fujiyama. Was this going to make a return?

Yes and no- looking close at the FM choil, you can see similar attempt at grind. Where the Morihiro-Fujiyama meet at the center, the FM is much more abbreviated. Additionally, you can really see the pop of the mirror polish on Morihiro’s. For the spine, you can observe and feel something similar- the geometry is kind of there, just not near as deep and established. 

I spoke with people that got the first batch of B2 FMs, and these sentiments seemed to be mirrored amongst them- it was close to the original Fujiyama, but definitely different. 

Morihiro Spine




FM Spine




Morihiro Spine 2




FM Spine 2




Morihiro Choil




FM Choil





I sent a few emails to Konosuke and inquired about this- was this intentional? Or was it an oversight? And what I got back was that this style of rounding- on the spine and choil –is very, very difficult.. and that, while the new sharpener was incredibly talented, he couldn’t match Morihiro in this one aspect. 

I’ll admit, I was little deflated at this one aspect- at the time, it wasn’t known whether Morihiro was going to come back at all; so I worried this aspect of his design might be lost. 

…but then the email continued- while Konosuke is very happy with the FM Fujiyama, they are always striving to get better; and that, with every batch, the FM sharpener is improving. 

This seemed to be mirrored anecdotally on the forums- people were asking about grinds after comparing them from different releases. “Are the white 1s different from the B2s?” “Were Tosho’s B1s exactly the same as CK TGs B2s?”

And so.. I decided simply comparing one knife from the FM sharpener was far too little a sample- and boy am I glad I continued. 

Here are choil shots of all three of my current FMs side by side. A quick note- the sequence these were released are- B2, BS 270, BS 240. So technically, the middle knife is the most recent, having just received it a week ago. 






And damn. The latest blue super 240 blew me away. You can see the slow progression as the rounding in the choil gets closer across those three models. The spine is the same way- the angle ground into the spine are a little more substantial. 

But even more impressive is the grind, especially when you consider this: all three of those knives are within 0.01 mm at initial spine measurement above the heel; and they continue to be incredibly close all the way to the tip. The B2 is actually slightly thinner at the spine than the Blue Super- but look at that grind! I am very impressed by the FM sharpener’s progression. 


In the future, things may chance a bit- but we should expect nothing less, honestly. All throughout Morihiro’s tenure as the main Fujiyama sharpener, we saw subtle changes across time. And from Morihiro’s thinnest offering, to his thickest- I’ve always enjoyed how they cut. I think I’ll find a similar feeling from the FM sharpener as well. 



Conclusions
So, after years of research, and dozens of Fujiyama, I have a few closing feelings. 

The biggest one that I kept running in to- that present Fujiyama feel nothing like the old stuff. Maybe there’s a hint of truth to that? Very obviously, things have changed over time. But I don’t think the grinds of 2012 and previous are something mythical and unrepeated. 

Honestly, if your preference were the White steel variants from forever ago, the FMs are going to be very, very in line with that. Where Morihiro used to push the boundaries of what Tanaka’s forging was capable of taking, so does the FM sharpener. In talking with Konosuke, about 80% of the knives he’s putting out, he’s stopping at /just/ the point where the edge will start to flex under pressure from your nail. That’s as thin as you can get- and with Tanaka being the blacksmith across all that time, it would be the same point Morihiro could have taken them too. 

Some of those early knives are absolute lasers- so if its not just edge thinness, but overall thinness you’re after, than an HD2 or Konosuke’s new FT Fujiyama might be what you’re after.

So if you’re reading this, wondering whether you should bend over backwards trying to get a near 10 year old knife to try and experience what some people claim is the best? You don’t need to. Give one of the current offerings a try- I’m sure you’ll be very happy. And if not, visit your friendly local BST. 


…what an expensive and time consuming research journey I went on to come to THAT conclusion.


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## Omega

Random Fujiyama Questions:

*-What has the HRC been across time?*
To answer this, Tanaka-san was directly questioned. He provided the following numbers, which he states are the same values he has been turning out for over 10 years.

Blue 1, White 1: about 65
Blue 2, White 2: about 64
Blue Super: Higher than 66

As those familiar with numbers might notice, these are quite high- and yet his knives don’t feel brittle, nor are they prone to micro-chipping at the edge. If not forged properly, knives at this hardness would have square cracks and micro cracks near the edge from quenching. Sometimes the edge will collapse entirely. But as the obscene thinness of all these Fujiyama accentuates, this is not an issue for Tanaka.

In previous years, I have seen product reviews and pages stating much lower numbers- in the 62-63 range for the Blue 2, for example. I’m not sure why this was… whether it was a miscommunication from Konosuke, or a misunderstanding by the reviewer. But those numbers are not correct- the numbers above have been the approximate HRCs of all Fujiyama since inception.


*-But aren’t wide bevels easier to maintain over time!*
I would agree to this point, but only to an extent. Wide bevel knives are easier to maintain properly, but only if you have a decent amount of sharpening experience. If you know what you’re doing, flattening the bevels and keeping the geometry in line might not be a big deal- but if you mess up, you can very easily, and very seriously, mess up your blade.

I’ve seen wide bevel knives that individuals who thought themselves competent took to stones… and the end result was not pretty. A good example of this can be seen in the Blue 1 KU I have listed above- see the asymmetry in that grind? The near 3mm of height missing? That’s from someone that thought they knew what they were doing… and it didn’t end well. Sadly, that’s far from the worst examples I’ve seen.

To this end, the FM Fujiyama might take a little more skill, but they try to mitigate that with other aspects of the forging- having it be extremely thin grind behind the edge; a very hard forging and heat treat from Tanaka; and a solid out of the box edge. By only using a leather strop, and occasionally a person’s prefered finishing stone, a professional end user should be able to go without dropping down to mid or lower grit stone for months. And don’t take my word for it- this came from someone with many years of professional kitchen experience.


*-What’s the little box on the stamp side?*
The little box stamp is something known as a ‘Kokuin’, a stamp that is meant to be hammered into steel. These stamps are simply stylized kanji that denotes the core steel. If you look closely at the pictures above, each different steel variant has a different kanji.

You may notice, some knives have them, and some don’t. The cause for this variance isn’t entirely known- Kosuke has been known to enjoy tinkering with things across time, and is just one of those examples of subtle variations. Personally, I wouldn’t sweat it.
…though I’ll admit, I really like how they look.


-Speaking of stamps.. what’s up with hand chiseled kanji on some? Where are the stamps now?
In the past, stamps were very common. Every san-mai I have, except for the Ginsan, and the B1 from 2016 have the standard Konosuke stamps on them.

The B2 Honyaki, the White 2 Honyaki, and the B1 from 2016 have hand chiseled kanji. But I think those few B1s were an extreme outlier- I have not seen hand chiseled kanji on past Fujiyama much at all, with one lone exception- the first runs of Togo Reigo. These knives had both stamps and hand chiseled kanji, in addition to a cool little ‘S’ stamp.








Starting in 2018, with the FM Fujiyama, Konosuke started running into a hiccup- in order to maintain grind consistency with the new style they were using, more knives were being ground up by the stamps. You have to remember, these knives come very rough from forging- so each knife has to be evaluated and approached a little differently. Sometimes this mean more work near the spine needed to be done. Sometimes less. But this meant, more than ever before, Fujiyama were coming out with thinner stamps.

As the stamps on Fujiyama are very iconic, this led to individuals being rather vocal about not liking them being thinner at times. This put Konosuke in a tough spot… because the lighter stamps weren’t a product of shoddy workmanship, but rather a sincere attempt to maintain grind consistency from knife to knife- do you sacrifice the performance and grind of the knife in some cases because of aesthetics? With this in mind, they have made a decision to not longer have stamps on their knives, and instead transition completely to hand chiseled kanji.

As of writing this, all Fujiyama going to Tosho Knife Arts and Chef Knives to Go will have only hand chiseled kanji on the FM and FT Fujiyama. Bernal Cutlery and Shirogami knives will still have stamps, but only on their White 2 FTs.

For those the follow Konosuke’s official IG, you may have noticed pictures of the soon-to-be-released Togo Reigo Fujiyama, with both stamps at Kanji. I know for me personally, this is my favorite styling. * If you like it to, you should go let them know. *

*-How is the out-of-the-box edge?*
This is an interesting topic as the answer has very recently changed.

For years, Fujiyama came with next to no edge at all. They were very thin because of their geometry, but were left unfinished, as it was customary for the end user to dictate their desired edge. There was some thought that a person buying a knife of this quality should be able to take care of their knife- so coming without an edge should be no problem. Additionally, there was thought that people might want to tailor-make their edge to the job they want.

Cutting lots of meat, or waxy skinned fruit? Then maybe you want a lower grit, toothier edge on your knife.
Making very fine cuts on food that will be plated as prepped? Then maybe you want a very refined, glassy edge.
The company had no way of knowing, so they left this to the end user.

Starting during the rise of the FM Fujiyama, however, this changed- Konosuke now ships every knife with a wicked sharp, natural-stone-finished edge. A demo of said edge can be found on Konosuke’s IG page-

https://www.instagram.com/p/BpD2QMHF_6e/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1te5rekjspvde

I have been able to try three of these edges, and they have all been phenomenal.


*-Are Fujiyama Hand-laminated, is Tanaka using pre-laminated steel*
Back at the start of Konosuke, Tanaka used to hand laminate All his blades.

But 4-5 years ago, as demand in Sakai started to skyrocket, he moved to pre-laminated steel. According to Tanaka himself, he did not feel there was any decline in quality, and the material that comes pre-laminated is the same material he was using when attaching by hand.

Nowadays, he only hand laminates single bevel, Damascus, and the Vintage Carbon / Togo Reigo blades.


*-So the Blue Steel Fujiyama always had Shinogi lines, and the White steel Fujiyama never did… right?*
This is GENERALLY the case, but not absolutely true.

In asking Konosuke about this, there was believed to be one small set of White 2 Fujiyama that had shinogi lines / the wide bevel grind.

In general however, this is a safe assumption.


*-Wait a minute.. if all this stuff is secret, why are you saying all this?*
When I initially started looking for all these answers, indeed, everything was quite secret. A few users would post claiming to know answers, but any vendor that was asked responded that they had to keep their mouth shut about such things.

I had sent a few emails to Kosuke directly some years ago, and I received a similar answer from him- that while he would Like to disclose this information, at that time, it had to remain secret.

This had been a sticking point for Kosuke though- he always wanted to have more transparency for the end-buyer, and wanted the craftsmen involved to receive the credit they deserve. For a long time, these things were left to be uncorroborated… but recently, this all changed.

Sometime around the time that Morihiro stepped away from making Fujiyama full time, Konosuke came out and revealed the identities of the Fujiyama blacksmith as Yoshikazu Tanaka, and the Fujiyama sharpener as Morihiro.

So none of the information in this write up is nearly as impactful as I had hoped it might be when I first started doing my research all that time ago… But that’s all fine, truthfully- without drama, or fear or hurting someone’s reputation or standing, it can be freely said now:
The Fujiyama Blacksmith is, and always has been, Yoshikazu Tanaka.
The Fujiyama sharpener, from the beginning until the FMs, has been Morihiro.


*-What about the Honyaki?*
Konosuke definitely has a reputation for phenomenal Honyaki- from single bevel, to the Fujiyama-style Blue and White Steel Honyaki, to the White 2 laser style honyaki. 

One thing to note about these is that none of them, regardless of steel or profile, are forged by Tanaka. I’ve heard from some people that Tanaka has made Honyaki before.. but never has one been released by Konosuke.

All honyaki released by Konosuke were forged by Kenichi Shiraki, Genkai Masakuni, or Ashi Hamono.


----------



## Omega

_Phew…. _Did you make it this far? All the way to the end? Then congrats! I hope you found this both enjoyable and entertaining to read. 
To those who might wonder, no part of this was commissioned / sponsored / requested by Konosuke, nor was I paid for any of my thoughts. This was a labor of love.
…or… sadistic psychosis…

All information has been as verified as I possibly can make it. If you have any questions, I’ll be lurking and can try to answer them.


One small final point- there are still a few Konosuke knives I’m searching for, if anyone happens to read this and considers parting with theirs:

Konosuke White 2 Honyaki, 240mm wa gyuto
Konosuke White 2 Honyaki, 270mm wa gyuto

Konosuke Togo Reigo 240mm wa gyuto, from the initial Tosho run from 2013-2014. Any handle.

Konosuke Fujiyama 270 White 1 gyuto, ebony handle- CK TG got 3 of these in the summer of 2017. If you have one in good condition and would like to sell, please let me know!


----------



## Gregmega

Jesus man.


----------



## refcast

I nominate this for best post of all time. Or something like that.


----------



## Dylan

I can appreciate the mass of time you put into this information. Thank you for sharing, both the knowledge and pictures of your collection! I’m sure this will get referenced a lot and it’s very cool to know more about the iconic companies background. 

-Dylan


----------



## Supraunleaded

Amazing write up! You make me feel like my FM and FT are even more special! Thanks!


----------



## tongas

Hats off to you for getting that deep in history, big interesting write up !


----------



## Matus

I very much appreciate you took the time to write all this down. Thank you.


----------



## Duque

Somebody please make the same for Dave Martell knives - that would also make fantastic reading


----------



## hennyville

Thank you very much!


----------



## Badgertooth

Spectacular labour of love here Omega and very generous of you to share. Thank you.


----------



## Luftmensch

Stellar contribution!

Thank you for the effort you put into recording this information and for your generosity in sharing it! No doubt it will become reference material for Konosuke history.

Kudos


----------



## Garm

This was a fascinating read, from beginning to end.
Thank you very much for all the effort and time you've put into this!


----------



## Xenif

Wow wow and wow. Thank You Omega. This is one of the .... No ... This is THE BEST article written about Konosuke knives to date. 
Although you could've used a catchier title like "Omega to Alpha: A look back at the history, legend, and myth that is Konosuke Fujiyama" [emoji6]


----------



## Elliot

I read every single word, completely captivated. Thank you for sharing your labor of love with us.


----------



## Wdestate

You must really like Konosuke knives..


----------



## Chicagohawkie

Interesting interpretation. A good basic introduction for sure, but no mention of the single bevels from the early days throughout to the later days. I would have liked to have heard more about the disappearance of the original white lines in late 2014. When they were reintroduced in late 2015 they were nothing like the original. That was a defining point for me in konos evolution.


----------



## skiajl6297

Color me impressed. (With your write up and time and effort.) Thank you for investing in this forum! Great work.


----------



## YG420

Awesome write up! Kono fujis are great knives


----------



## wind88

Kono fuji will soon become unaffordable after this great post


----------



## Timthebeaver

I remember when the only Konosuke you could buy was a stainless layzor, the poor man's Tad/SIH


----------



## khashy

I enjoyed reading this and learned things I didn’t know previously - thank you for making my commute back home (with a banging headache) enjoyable. 

Section about Togo Reigo/Reigou/Reigu steel is a little overly dramatic but I love it, really do love it.

I know you’ve been working on this for years and I take my hat off to you sir.

Also I don’t think anyone has mentioned it yet but Jesus dude you have an absolutely incredible collection! 

Though shalt be dubbed the Kono-lord hence forth


----------



## Omega

Wdestate said:


> You must really like Konosuke knives..


Haha yeah. Even as I've used quite a few more knives, they've stayed one of my favorites.

@Chicagohawkie 


Chicagohawkie said:


> Interesting interpretation. A good basic introduction for sure, but no mention of the single bevels from the early days throughout to the later days. I would have liked to have heard more about the disappearance of the original white lines in late 2014. When they were reintroduced in late 2015 they were nothing like the original. That was a defining point for me in konos evolution.


Single bevels were definitely outside my wheel house- I own a few, and they are fantastic, but I had no interest in collecting as obsessively, and trying to derive the iterative changes.

And which original white lines? The White 2 monosteel? Or the White 2 laser-style honyaki? Or the white-steel, san mai gyuto, with the lower and different looking cladding line?


----------



## Omega

khashy said:


> I enjoyed reading this and learned things I didn’t know previously - thank you for making my commute back home (with a banging headache) enjoyable.
> 
> Section about Togo Reigo/Reigou/Reigu steel is a little overly dramatic but I love it, really do love it.
> 
> I know you’ve been working on this for years and I take my hat off to you sir.
> 
> Also I don’t think anyone has mentioned it yet but Jesus dude you have an absolutely incredible collection!
> 
> Though shalt be dubbed the Kono-lord hence forth



Haha thank you man! 

I can understand what you mean about the Togo Reigo section- I'll admit, I wrote and re-wrote that section several times trying to get it to feel... right. 

Because on the one, I don't mean to say the steel alone represents this unattainable, never-before-seen-again performance. But.. its not as plain-Jane as some people have chocked it up to be. And the historical significance of it isn't trivial. 
And too- how much it meant to Morihiro himself.. Both with respect to being allowed to really experiment again, and to try to innovate.. but also in helping bring back his drive. 
That said, I'll be a tad biased.. as I love his work, and was very worried it was just going to disappear. 

Hehe, and thank you! Many years worth of searching and collecting there.. I'll try to be a little better about taking and showing pictures now


----------



## LucasFur

WOW what a piece! Thank you Omega! Kono-lord. 
I had no idea you would have gone this far after purchasing your first fujiyama all those years ago.


----------



## McMan

Awesome and impressive. Thanks for taking the time to compile this--the pictures really help add context and detail, too.
Posts like this are one of the reasons KKF can be such a cool place!--detail, free sharing of knowledge, enthusiasm... Very cool!


----------



## daddy yo yo

Wow! Just wow...


----------



## HRC_64

Great post OP....Encyclopaedic run-down of Konsuke knives over the years...Wow indeed.


----------



## Bert2368

OK, Omega, get my teeth against the curb and kick me in the back of the head...

I will now get rid of all my knives except one old butter knife with sentimental value. Because, I can't afford the best and don't want to "settle".


----------



## nevin

Thank you for spending the effort in writing this, I enjoy reading every bit of it.


----------



## Itsjun

Really enjoy the information.
Even thou i don't own one kono but have a fuji made by Tanaka.


----------



## bahamaroot

Absolutely amazing and captivating post Omega! Thanks for taking the time and sharing what your research has revealed.



Chicagohawkie said:


> Interesting interpretation. A good basic introduction for sure, but no mention of the single bevels from the early days throughout to the later days. I would have liked to have heard more about the disappearance of the original white lines in late 2014. When they were reintroduced in late 2015 they were nothing like the original. That was a defining point for me in konos evolution.


Can't you ever just give credit where credit is do?


----------



## labor of love

I have no interest in Fujiyamas yet the history is quite fascinating. I’m sure you answered dozens if not hundreds of questions from forum members with this thread.


----------



## GorillaGrunt

Wow. This is a great article. I didn’t have a particular drive to own one - now that the mystique is explained, I do! Especially Togo Reigo.


----------



## krx927

Great post indeed! A lot of thing clarified now.


----------



## iamdacow

I just want to say thanks for the effort you put into researching and writing up these posts, very interesting and informative. Read every word of it and am now considering a Fujiyama as my next knife purchase .


----------



## Mucho Bocho

Who did the grind and finish work on the sanmai Ginsan series circa 2015?


----------



## ivnj

Thank you Omega, this is by far the best post on kkf I‘ve read, definitely helped answered a lot of our questions on the fuji’s


----------



## Barashka

This is excellent info, thank you.


----------



## Simme

This was such a great read, thank you for your hard work Omega


----------



## Luftmensch

khashy said:


> Also I don’t think anyone has mentioned it yet but Jesus dude you have an absolutely incredible collection!



Almost goes without saying.... So don't say it 

No, good point. @Omega how many have you held onto? 





khashy said:


> Though shalt be dubbed the Kono-lord hence forth



Really? Come on... we can do better than that!

How about the "Kono Alpha and @Omega"


----------



## Omega

Thanks again to everyone for the kind words! Glad all the hard work that went into this article has been helpful to so many!



Mucho Bocho said:


> Who did the grind and finish work on the sanmai Ginsan series circa 2015?



I'll start off by saying I've only owned two Ginsan knives by Konosuke, ever.. And only one that was pre-MM.
So at current, I can only say confidently that /some/ of the pre-2018 Ginsan Fujiyama were finished by Morihiro. Some were not. I'll come back with a comment if I can verify somethings. Sorry to be a tad vague.



Luftmensch said:


> @Omega how many have you held onto?



Ahh! I suppose I didn't address this well-

So, with only two exceptions- The Konosuke White 2 laser-style Honyaki, and the 2nd B2 Fujiyama from 2016, that had numbers and pictures..
I still currently own every other knife listed.
The Konosuke White 2 Honyaki is my whale. And the 2nd B2 Fujiyama only passed through my hands briefly, and I took advantage of having access to it.
All pictures and measurements taken (except for two FMs) were done in the same night. The Blue Super 240 kasumi, and Blue Super 270 damascus were done a few weeks after the initial bulk of knives were gone through.

So uhh... there are a loooot of knife boxes on my shelves.

I'll try to get a big group shot here at some point.


----------



## Luftmensch

Omega said:


> So, with only two exceptions- The Konosuke White 2 laser-style Honyaki, and the 2nd B2 Fujiyama from 2016, that had numbers and pictures..
> I still currently own every other knife listed.



Going by the table (27)... that makes 25  konosukes and counting! Aaahhh... aahh.... ah! (count von count style) 




Omega said:


> So uhh... there are a loooot of knife boxes on my shelves.



Hehe... you need a display wall and grade them by year to show the evolution!


----------



## BrianT

Very interesting post. Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Froztitanz

Simply one of the best posts on kkf I've seen. Phenomenal write-up and detailed breakdown. Thank you for sharing.


----------



## CoteRotie

Just got time to read this, wow! Thanks for all the time and effort you put in to this. 

The poor sharpening/asymmetry on that Blue #1 KU made me cringe, seems like you would have to really try to mess up the grind that much.


----------



## Omega

Thanks so much again to everyone who is reading and enjoying this! Really happy all the effort has been of service!

@CoteRotie yeah dude, I feel you.. I believe the original owner responsible was... TRYING to be extreme in his thinning? But I don't know for sure. I've seen work the individual has done sense, and its quite good.
...buuuuut... that B1KU was definitely not one of his better tries.

Not even sure how much work would be needed to be done to fix it.. the angle is just so obtuse now.
If nothing else, I can use it as a polishing-test-slave. Tanaka's cladding can have such interesting characteristics to it. 

Why?
I definitely don't know for sure.
But I've seen some people bring out amazing qualities with the right technique.
...at least I don't have to worry about "ruining" it by being aggressive on stones now.


----------



## jonnachang

Great job Omega! It’s a lot of work to get all this information together. Thank you!


----------



## nakneker

Simply awesome. I don’t know how much time you put into this but I certainly thank you for doing it. Konosuke Fujiyama and all things related can get confusing, for me, this is intriguing and very interesting. 5 stars, one of the best posts I’ve come across.


----------



## kedrikec

Amazing post and collection Omega! One of the best post in KKF.


----------



## Daizone

Bravo awesome post man. Hats off to you for all of this information.


----------



## battlecry501

Very detailed and informative, great writeup! Can you do the histories for other knife lines


----------



## DisconnectedAG

This deserves to never die. Thanks so much for an amazing and informative series of posts. What a collection and the knowledge you share is amazing.


----------



## Jeffrey Kramb

Wow. Thanks for all the info.


----------



## Joao lourenco

Kudos Omega!
Amazing reading and knowledge!!so much dedication from your side and in sharing this!
Thank you!


----------



## adam92

Thank you very much, I'm really enjoy & appreciate for your efforts.


----------



## Omega

Thanks again guys! Really happy all the work that went into this has made for an enjoyable read. 

I’m hoping to having a few additions to this in the next month or so.


----------



## jacko9

Thanks for filling in the blanks on the Fujiyama's. I have a 210 B#2 Gyuto from the 2016 vintage, a 210 W#2 Petty from the 2017 vintage and recently a 240 B#2 FT. I appreciate knowing more about the history of these great knives.


----------



## Henry

Great thread. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.


----------



## CharlieFoxtrot

Those knives are simply stunning.


----------



## jacko9

Do you have any information on the current availability of the FT vs the FM line of Fujiyama's? I picked up a FT B#2 240 a recently and would like to get the same Gyuto knife in 210 if the sharpener is still working with Konosuke.


----------



## Omega

jacko9 said:


> Do you have any information on the current availability of the FT vs the FM line of Fujiyama's? I picked up a FT B#2 240 a recently and would like to get the same Gyuto knife in 210 if the sharpener is still working with Konosuke.



FM sharpener is still in the fold and doing excellent work for Konosuke.

The FT sharpener is no longer actively doing work for them though. There MIGHT be a couple that have been finished, but not release.. but I don't know.


----------



## jacko9

Omega said:


> FM sharpener is still in the fold and doing excellent work for Konosuke.
> 
> The FT sharpener is no longer actively doing work for them though. There MIGHT be a couple that have been finished, but not release.. but I don't know.



The FT Fujiyama seems really lightweight but for removing skins from salmon and trimming silver skin the knife is an absolute gem. I find myself reaching for it most days and wonder how much different the sharpening is on the FM? I guess I'll just have to buy one next time they become available.


----------



## bahamaroot

Konosuke Fujiyama, knife of the decade.


----------



## Johnny.B.Good

Adding my name to the list of members thanking you for such an excellent post. 

Now if only we could get you to fall in love with a few other makers...


----------



## Newbflat

Damn, I’m way later to this but a big thanks. More please!


----------



## lemeneid

It’s slightly off topic but I’ve been on the hunt for a Tanaka B#1. Can anyone give their opinions on the knives I’m looking at. The ones I’ve been seeing are the Fujiyama, Tanaka x Kyuzo from Hitohira and the Tanaka Dammy from JNS.

At least from what I’ve seen from pics and specs, they’re all wide bevels and fairly lasery. But anyone used these knives?


----------



## jacko9

Kosuke has indicated that he is making 270mm and 300mm Fujiyama Sujihiki's - there a knife I've been looking for for quite a while. My 210mm Kono Fyjiyama W#2 Petty is used as a short slicing knife right now.


----------



## Liron

This post is unbelievable. And to think you only focused on Gyutos...


----------



## Iggy

lemeneid said:


> It’s slightly off topic but I’ve been on the hunt for a Tanaka B#1. Can anyone give their opinions on the knives I’m looking at. The ones I’ve been seeing are the Fujiyama, Tanaka x Kyuzo from Hitohira and the Tanaka Dammy from JNS.
> 
> At least from what I’ve seen from pics and specs, they’re all wide bevels and fairly lasery. But anyone used these knives?



Maybe a little late... but just received the Tanaka x Kyuzo from Hitohira two weeks ago. 
Wide bevel of course... but I really like the knife. with 3mm blade thickness and a very thin behind the edge grind, its quite "laser-like". 

The Blue#1 performs quite good as far as I can judge after about 8 week night dinners... tried some rough chopping with it. No chipping at all.
The profile is quite a good allrounder IMHO. The blade length runs quite short for a 240 (about 230 actual blade length).

The cladding is quite reactive IMHO but it starts to decrease a little now.


----------



## Bodine

Very nice write up, I enjoyed it all the way through, makes me want to buy one.
I think you just raised prices a bit though


----------



## jacko9

One thing I noticed is that my Fujiyama FT B#2 240mm Gyuto is much thinner than my older Fuji 210mm Gyuto sharpened with the high bevel. I love the knife but I would like to get one a little thicker now that I have the FT. Does anybody know if the FM is the same thickness?


----------



## bahamaroot

I assume the FT and FM are very similar in thickness at the spine. My FM measures exactly what the FT is listed at, 2.8mm over the heel.


----------



## jacko9

bahamaroot said:


> I assume the FT and FM are very similar in thickness at the spine. My FM measures exactly what the FT is listed at, 2.8mm over the heel.



Thanks for the info and I would guess that they are forged by one blacksmith and used to be just sharpened by the two at one time.


----------



## bahamaroot

Yes, same smith different sharpeners.


----------



## Steel+Fire

bahamaroot said:


> I assume the FT and FM are very similar in thickness at the spine. My FM measures exactly what the FT is listed at, 2.8mm over the heel.


Close, if not the same but the FT has way more distal taper and a higher more aggressive grind. It is thin and super light like my HD2 but short for a 240mm. My FM retains more weight and beef overall with a similar length.i have the FT in Shiro 2. I picked it up 2nd hand but the handle makes me think it is from Bernal.


----------



## lemeneid

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9dpIcojCqF/?igshid=1knt8l87vqax8

Looks like they finally publicly revealed the identity of the FM sharpener


----------



## Corradobrit1

lemeneid said:


> https://www.instagram.com/p/B9dpIcojCqF/?igshid=1knt8l87vqax8
> 
> Looks like they finally publicly revealed the identity of the FM sharpener


This is a very positive move.


----------



## Gregmega

....


----------



## Omega

@Gregmega

Yo- for sure man, I'll be happy to expound upon the IG stuff. I'll admit, I actually have a number of updates I want to make for this write up (Honyaki, the Myojin reveal, the Togo vs Vintage Carbon situation, etc.) but have been dragging my feet on just because of other life busyness. 

There have also been a few instances of pushback towards some of the information presented in the initial release of this that I'm wanting to address as well. My job laying off a bunch of other people and expecting the rest of us to pick up the slack never helps.. but isn't that how it always goes.


----------



## Reverend27

Omega said:


> @Gregmega
> 
> Yo- for sure man, I'll be happy to expound upon the IG stuff. I'll admit, I actually have a number of updates I want to make for this write up (Honyaki, the Myojin reveal, the Togo vs Vintage Carbon situation, etc.) but have been dragging my feet on just because of other life busyness.
> 
> There have also been a few instances of pushback towards some of the information presented in the initial release of this that I'm wanting to address as well. My job laying off a bunch of other people and expecting the rest of us to pick up the slack never helps.. but isn't that how it always goes.


Amazing write up thank you. I just paid $5.99 to tell you that.

Also based on you I just bought a 240 B1 Fuji from Tosho.
Thank you.


----------



## Reverend27

Also can someone recommend the stones one would want to use on a Fuji B1?


----------



## Ruso

Omega, great posts and research. It was a pleasure to read.


----------



## Omega

@Ruso Thanks so much!

@Reverend27 Hope you enjoy the FM! I really love Myojin's sharpening. Plus the edges they come with are so nice now. 

For stones, a lot of it can come down to personal preference. There's a reason why there's such a huge variety out there- there isn't necessarily a best. However, if you're looking for a place to start, Konosuke uses Choseras / Naniwa Pro in their honbazuke progression that they put on Every knife now. Admittedly, I know there's at least 1 extremely nice natural stone near the end of things.. and there's also a shitload of talent that's involved.. But if you want to be at least at the same starting place as what stones are being used to put the edge your feeling out of the box, Chosera / Naniwa Pro is where its at.


----------



## DHunter86

Really nice write up here, makes me want to go out and buy a pre-FM Konosuke. Alas I'm a little late to the game and can only look out for re-sales. 

Thanks so much for the research and write up Omega!


----------



## Receiver52

My thanks as well Omega. Fabulous thread. Appears to have had the anticipated effect as I bought a Kono FM W1 yesterday. Probably take a month to get it but I’m excited. I already have a Y Tanaka dammy B1 so it will be interesting to compare.


----------



## Reverend27

So I just received my first Fuji. The box says Gt 240 Fm blue#1.

I noticed some small scratches on the blade face and small scratches leading into and out of the kanji.

Also the junction between handle and ferrule there is an obvious step. You can catch you thumbnail on it if you drag across it.

Other then that the fit and finish is beautiful and I like the handle more in person then the photos.

My biggest surprise impression is the weight and overall solid feel.
Haven't cut with it yet but I'll cook dinner with it tonight. (Cantonese beef and vegetables).


----------



## Runner_up

Reverend27 said:


> So I just received my first Fuji. The box says Gt 240 Fm blue#1.
> 
> Also the junction between handle and ferrule there is an obvious step. You can catch you thumbnail on it if you drag across it.




That is intentional, every FM has the exposed maachi and it is pretty clear in photos. That's not a F&F issue..

Enjoy it - they're great knives.


----------



## Corradobrit1

Reverend27 said:


> You can catch you thumbnail on it if you drag across it.


Standard feature on Kono's. One aspect that turned me off the brand.


----------



## Reverend27

I just heard so much of fit and finish I guess I expected flawless.

I don't know that anyone cares but mine weighs 204 grams. A pleasant surprise laser at the edge but still has some heft.
This is what I like.


----------



## Corradobrit1

Reverend27 said:


> I just heard so much of fit and finish I guess I expected flawless.
> 
> I don't know that anyone cares but mine weighs 204 grams. A pleasant surprise laser at the edge but still has some heft.
> This is what I like.


Sounds like the new taller, thicker spine FM's they are making. Just read they are also producing a batch of cleavers too by the same blacksmith, sharpener and handle maker.


----------



## parbaked

Reverend27 said:


> I just heard so much of fit and finish I guess I expected flawless.








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----------



## Keat

@Reverend27 Is the issue about a match gap? I read your post as a F&F issue with the handle, where the wood portion meets the ferrule (likely horn portion). . .


----------



## Reverend27

Yes I'm not talking about the machi. I know what tokyo style is. I'm talking about where the wood meets the horn. Its like a .3-.5 mm step up to the wood.

And also there's is a visible glue line between the two.

I'm happy I'm not sending it back. Just surprising that my cheaper knives have a smoother transition.

As far as fit in my hand and the weight it's excellent.

My favorite knife up to this point was my Shiro Kamo 210 r2 damascus.

That knife was 234mm blade length 53mm height and between 200-210 grams. 
This Fuji is 233mm 52mm and 204. Perfect. 
The Kamo became an extension of me and I'm sure this Kono will also.

Also I'm a pro and this will be my work knife.


----------



## bahamaroot

Handle materials shrink and swell, there is no way to control if they develop a step or not at the ferrule. Handles are perfectly smooth when finished but might not be just a couple days later.


----------



## Reverend27

Ya it's not a big deal to me nor are the tiny scratches.
I will put a patina on it and put it to work.


----------



## Mikeadunne

@Reverend27 I have a 240 b1 I got from Tosho in nov/dec and it has the same small amount of glue/step in handle-ferrule transition. Much like you I love the knife too much to really care but it was a slight annoyance. My hd2 has a near perfect transition.


----------



## Reverend27

It's cool I'm not worried. Got done cooking dinner tonight.

Went thru some carrot, broccoli, mushrooms, ginger, garlic cabbage and some nice flank steak.

Tip worked great on the small ginger and garlic.
But it was the carrots that were the ahha moment.
It's apparent to me I'm going to have to rework my muscle memory because when it starts to drop you really have let off the pressure and let it fall.

I'm happy with it.


----------



## M1k3

Reverend27 said:


> It's cool I'm not worried. Got done cooking dinner tonight.
> 
> Went thru some carrot, broccoli, mushrooms, ginger, garlic cabbage and some nice flank steak.
> 
> Tip worked great on the small ginger and garlic.
> But it was the carrots that were the ahha moment.
> It's apparent to me I'm going to have to rework my muscle memory because when it starts to drop you really have let off the pressure and let it fall.
> 
> I'm happy with it.



I had that same thing happen yesterday. I cut a carrot with my Gengetsu yesterday (sorry, no video). The edge hit the board a little hard..


----------



## Horsemover

Great read...just found this thread. @Omega thank you! Perfect timing as my FM 240 B2 is due in Monday.


----------



## spaceconvoy

Very awesome post! I have nothing substantive to add, but wanted to share photos I took of the Konosuke shop when I visited in early 2009. Obviously the blades are made elsewhere, but it looked like they did everything else on the first floor of their house, on a small residential street. Kosuke was extremely nice and welcoming, and even though I only bought a basic laser gyuto, they let me select the handle and watch it being installed. He explained to me how he had taken over the business from his father a few years back, and how he planned to modernize it. And now he's widely considered one of the new great modern knife makers! Thanks for illuminating all the attention to detail that went into the Fujiyama series - Kosuke clearly deserves all his success.


----------



## esoo

Just got my FM 210 in W#2 yesterday - very nice knife. Was surprised to have it come in lighter than my HD2 210.

Since this is as good of place as any to ask, and I didn't see it anywhere else, but what does the Kanji mean on the blade?


----------



## Koakuma

esoo said:


> Just got my FM 210 in W#2 yesterday - very nice knife. Was surprised to have it come in lighter than my HD2 210.
> 
> Since this is as good of place as any to ask, and I didn't see it anywhere else, but what does the Kanji mean on the blade?
> View attachment 86514
> View attachment 86515


Konosuke white 2


----------



## esoo

Koakuma said:


> Konosuke white 2



Thanks. Nothing like the obvious.


----------



## Rom

esoo said:


> Just got my FM 210 in W#2 yesterday - very nice knife. Was surprised to have it come in lighter than my HD2 210.
> 
> Since this is as good of place as any to ask, and I didn't see it anywhere else, but what does the Kanji mean on the blade?
> View attachment 86514
> View attachment 86515


Beautiful pair


----------



## parbaked

Rom said:


> Beautiful pair


That's what he said...

I'm pretty sure that's both sides of the same blade.


----------



## esoo

parbaked said:


> That's what he said...
> 
> I'm pretty sure that's both sides of the same blade.



Yeah, that post was the same blade.

But they do make a nice pair:


----------



## simar

thanks for the info, looking forward to your updates


----------



## Kitchenchem

What is known about Konosuke Fujiyama YM Yanagiba?


----------



## jacko9

Here is the Konosuke web site and I don't see anything about a Fujiyama YM. They do have a contact on that site to email and ask.



Fujiyama – Konosuke


----------



## soigne_west

From Bernals site on the YM

"Slightly different than the original Fujiyama knives, which became difficult to get, the new Fujiyama YM series is done by new craftspeople but is still done with excellent quality forging, grinding and superb finish work. They are hand forged by the son of Tanaka-san, the original Fujiyama smith, in Sakai city, Japan. His work is excellent. They are ground by a sharpener who has been working in Sakai for decades and has started working with Konosuke on these new Fujiyama series. "


----------



## Sbuckel

Kitchenchem said:


> What is known about Konosuke Fujiyama YM Yanagiba?



From what I read, the YM is forged by Tanaka’s son.


----------



## Kitchenchem

I’ve sent an email to Konosuke, will report back.


----------



## Kitchenchem

This was the response:
“Thank you for your inquiry.

YM knives are forged by Fujiyama blacksmith (Tanaka)'s son who is practicing.

Sharpened by Myojin (FM sharpener).
He's also practicing single bevel knives.

With these reasons, we're providing at a lower price than the regular
Fujiyama price.”

I bought the one from Bernal Cutlery.
Anxious to see what it’s like.


----------



## josemartinlopez

A well traveled chef friend gave me a passing comment that he sees Konosuke as an export oriented brand and is arguably more popular in the USA than in Japan (at least for certain types of knives under the brand). I imagine there is a context to that comment. Might anyone know what he meant, especially members in Japan?


----------



## bahamaroot

I would assume he was saying that Kosuke designs knives geared toward the user in the west because of a higher demand and/or profit margin in the export market.


----------



## Omega

@josemartinlopez So, as I understand it from speaking with Kosuke, and members of Tosho Knife Arts staff- from very early on the North American distributors started buying all the stock that Konosuke could produce (especially ToGo). To a point where Kosuke didn't have any stock even to sell in Japan. 

If you ever visit Konosuke / Kaneshige, Kosuke actually built a gallery in which they planned to sell knives even locally.. but they are so slammed with orders, they gave up on it. 

So there's truth to the statement, "Konosuke is more an export company" if only because they've never had stock with which to court Japanese retailers. 

That's certainly not for lack of interest though- on my last visit to Japan, multiple Japanese shops let me know that they didn't currently have stock of Konosuke, but that they're trying to become dealers, because of the sheer volume of requests they get from International customers that stop through.


----------



## EShin

I can second Omega's opinion. If you want to get a Konosuke in Japan, you have to contact them directly, which is not because they wouldn't sell in Japan or because they were designed for Western customers and don't really match the people's needs here, but because their capacities are already exhausted by distributors from abroad. Even if you visit them, they probably won't have more than just a couple of knives in the small and beautiful showroom. That's also the reason why they were never established as a famous brand in Japan. At the same time, you might want to know that many brands only became famous in Japan after they were discovered abroad. It might be surprising at first, but almost all people here including chefs don't really care much about knives anyway, but just get what they were recommended by their seniors or what was advertised, without having any idea about steels etc.


----------



## tgfencer

EShin said:


> It might be surprising at first, but almost all people here including chefs don't really care much about knives anyway, but just get what they were recommended by their seniors or what was advertised, without having any idea about steels etc.



I mean that shouldn't really be all that surprising to folks. After all, most home cooks/chefs/pros in almost all countries around the world use cheap and readily available knives and often just go by their coworkers/boss recommendations. 

Not a dig at you good sir, just a good reminder of the knife bubble we all live in. Interesting stuff about Konosuke.


----------



## EShin

tgfencer said:


> I mean that shouldn't really be all that surprising to folks. After all, most home cooks/chefs/pros in almost all countries around the world use cheap and readily available knives and often just go by their coworkers/boss recommendations.
> 
> Not a dig at you good sir, just a good reminder of the knife bubble we all live in. Interesting stuff about Konosuke.


Very much so. It's just that many people would assume that people here in Japan would know a lot about their traditions and culture, which obviously isn't necessarily the case. Actually, not many Japanese know about the knife forging tradition at all.

In order to make some contribution to the thread itself, I'll attach some recent pictures of the showroom. I'm sorry they're not very good, but they might be of interest to some people here anyway.

By the way, the sharpener of the FT Fujiyama series is still undisclosed und probably won't be disclosed. I read somewhere that it is Shosui Takeda, but this information is false.


----------



## josemartinlopez

Thanks for posting these!


----------



## jacko9

I for one am thankful that retailers like Tosho and ToGo recognized the quality of product being produced at Konosuke and committed to buy all they make. I remember these retailers telling the folks at Konosuke to start charging more if that would provide incentive to their craftsmen to produce more. I know That I enjoy using the three Fujiyama's I have.


----------



## Dan E

I’ve been wondering why the new FM white 2‘s Bernal is offering haven’t sold „as fast“ as the Tosho ones — after reading all the posts here, and considering the price differences between tosho and Bernal, is it safe to say that tosho (they only had a white 1) was Tanaka while Bernal sells the one made just Tanaka‘s son?

If so — is there any benchmark out there how similar / different in grind and quality they are? I don’t have a Fuji yet but have been contemplating last night to order.


Edit — maybe I was overthinking and the price difference (roughly 100 USD) comes from the handle. The Bernal one seems basic, tosho had a fancier one. Still interested in inputs from the more knowledgeable crowd here


----------



## Omega

Dan E said:


> I’ve been wondering why the new FM white 2‘s Bernal is offering haven’t sold „as fast“ as the Tosho ones — after reading all the posts here, and considering the price differences between tosho and Bernal, is it safe to say that tosho (they only had a white 1) was Tanaka while Bernal sells the one made just Tanaka‘s son?
> 
> If so — is there any benchmark out there how similar / different in grind and quality they are? I don’t have a Fuji yet but have been contemplating last night to order.
> 
> 
> Edit — maybe I was overthinking and the price difference (roughly 100 USD) comes from the handle. The Bernal one seems basic, tosho had a fancier one. Still interested in inputs from the more knowledgeable crowd here



No- to my knowledge, none of the FM are forged by Tanaka's son. Konosuke has a line that Tanaka's son forges (the YM or something??)
The White 2 at Bernal should be the exact same (within handmade tolerances) with respect to heel heigh and grind as the FMs that Tosho got. 

As far as prices? White 2 is cheaper than White 1 and Blue 1. Also, I think the dollar is stronger vs yen, compared to CAD vs yen. That plays into things. (I'll admit I haven't looked in the past few weeks though; so feel free to correct me) Also handle selection- Tosho looks like they had the nice ebony handles with black horn on their White 1. These from Bernal have the ho-wood handles with wood ferrule. There's your major price differential right there. All of Konosuke's handles are nice- but those ebony ones for sure cost more.

Just ask Brett about those ebony handles ;D


----------



## Jason183

Hi, I just saw your reply in that Ginsan knife thread, I don’t want to keep bumping that thread since it’s sold:

“As far as the Fujiyama-style (Wide Bevel) Ginsan: they were sharpened by two sharpeners. Morihiro, and the 'Taka' sharpener [Kawakita]. I've never been told the reason as to why they'd go back and forth between the sharpeners, just that it did.
Whenever asked about these knives (the Ginsan) in the past, Kosuke has usually said you can tell whether the knife is Morihiro or 'Taka'/Kawakita by the engraved Kanji. If it has 3 characters, it's Kawakita. If it has 4 characters, its Morihiro. As taken directly from a Kosuke email:
The knives of this series were forged by Shiraki, sharpened by Kawakita, and had the engraving just “幸之祐” (Konosuke) without “堺” (Sakai)”

I’m wondering what’s special about Morihiro’s wide bevel sharpening? Is it the grind(more convex, flat or concave), or because he is the original creator of wide bevel gyuto? It seems knifes sharpened by him are more sought after?


----------



## Dan E

Omega said:


> No- to my knowledge, none of the FM are forged by Tanaka's son. Konosuke has a line that Tanaka's son forges (the YM or something??)
> The White 2 at Bernal should be the exact same (within handmade tolerances) with respect to heel heigh and grind as the FMs that Tosho got.
> 
> As far as prices? White 2 is cheaper than White 1 and Blue 1. Also, I think the dollar is stronger vs yen, compared to CAD vs yen. That plays into things. (I'll admit I haven't looked in the past few weeks though; so feel free to correct me) Also handle selection- Tosho looks like they had the nice ebony handles with black horn on their White 1. These from Bernal have the ho-wood handles with wood ferrule. There's your major price differential right there. All of Konosuke's handles are nice- but those ebony ones for sure cost more.
> 
> Just ask Brett about those ebony handles ;D




You are right -- FM seems to be mate by Tanaka himself still. And my stupidity was punished as the FM white was available when I asked the question and sold out when I realized that it was not made by his son..


----------



## jedy617

Hey guys, got my first Konosuke Fujiyama in and I'm very excited for it. It's a blue 2, 210mm. I believe this is the CKTG version as it has Kanji on it. Can anyone help with the Kanji BTW on the right and left side? I'm guessing one side says konosuke Sakai, and the other is blue 2?

Don't mind the scratches for now...last owner roughed it up a bit on the flats and I'm going to try my best to restore it or maybe send it out. What grit sandpaper would you start with? Maybe 800? Thanks!


----------



## Jason183

jedy617 said:


> Hey guys, got my first Konosuke Fujiyama in and I'm very excited for it. It's a blue 2, 210mm. I believe this is the CKTG version as it has Kanji on it. Can anyone help with the Kanji BTW on the right and left side? I'm guessing one side says konosuke Sakai, and the other is blue 2?
> 
> Don't mind the scratches for now...last owner roughed it up a bit on the flats and I'm going to try my best to restore it or maybe send it out. What grit sandpaper would you start with? Maybe 800? Thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 126565
> View attachment 126566
> View attachment 126567


You’re right, right side of the blade is the “Konosuke” Kanji, left side is the “blue 2”


----------



## jedy617

Jason183 said:


> You’re right, right side of the blade is the “Konosuke” Kanji, left side is the “blue 2”


Awesome thanks!


----------



## ModRQC

jedy617 said:


> Hey guys, got my first Konosuke Fujiyama in and I'm very excited for it. It's a blue 2, 210mm. I believe this is the CKTG version as it has Kanji on it. Can anyone help with the Kanji BTW on the right and left side? I'm guessing one side says konosuke Sakai, and the other is blue 2?
> 
> Don't mind the scratches for now...last owner roughed it up a bit on the flats and I'm going to try my best to restore it or maybe send it out. What grit sandpaper would you start with? Maybe 800? Thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 126565
> View attachment 126566
> View attachment 126567



You'll need to start lower if you want to cover the worse of these. P400 is probably too high still. Best would be to begin with something like 180-220, then 320-400, then 600-800.

Even better, use a low-med stone as a starter and pick it up with the highest grit sandpaper that is efficient from there towards a mirror-like polish, or further stones towards a kasumi.


----------



## jedy617

ModRQC said:


> You'll need to start lower if you want to cover the worse of these. P400 is probably too high still. Best would be to begin with something like 180-220, then 320-400, then 600-800.
> 
> Even better, use a low-med stone as a starter and pick it up with the highest grit sandpaper that is efficient from there towards a mirror-like polish, or further stones towards a kasumi.


Got it, hard to know what the exact grit finish was stock. Thanks for the advice!


----------



## ModRQC

The fine scratches on the unit won't be difficult. However I see on the right side under the kanji some deeper scuffs that will be a PITA even with P400 sandpaper. 

I know for a fact that anywhere from Cerax #700 to Imanishi 1200, covering these would go quite swiftly with a good polishing stone. Mud is quite efficient to cover stuff up. Its own scratch pattern is more readily picked up, buffed or erased.


----------



## jedy617

ModRQC said:


> The fine scratches on the unit won't be difficult. However I see on the right side under the kanji some deeper scuffs that will be a PITA even with P400 sandpaper.
> 
> I know for a fact that anywhere from Cerax #700 to Imanishi 1200, covering these would go quite swiftly with a good polishing stone. Mud is quite efficient to cover stuff up. Its own scratch pattern is more readily picked up, buffed or erased.


Right before anyone replied, I already got a decent amount of the swirls out with 1000 grit paper. Probably should have started lower but I didn't want to really rough up the finish, we'll see maybe I will go back for the deeper stuff or just leave it.

For polishing on stones do you just lie the knife flat with the tip facing north? The scratch pattern goes vertically from ferrule to tip so to match that I think I have to go in that orientation as opposite to normal sharpening with the heel facing north to the front of the stone correct?


----------



## ModRQC

Well if you intend to solely use stones, then your direction isn't THAT important, in that you will work the same with each anyhow and follow it. If you want fully horizontal, sandpaper is best. Don't worry so much about "roughing up". P180 soft backing won't be so aggressive, use a steady but not forceful pressure, and work on having a nice even coverage. As soon as you'll step up in grits, you'll be able to see the pattern clear quite readily. But under direct light, I find sandpaper to be a bit less forgiving than mud is all. Swirls and stray scratches will just show through if you're not especially careful. The best trick is to alternate direction, however not so obvious to do if you can't remove the handle.


----------



## jedy617

ModRQC said:


> Well if you intend to solely use stones, then your direction isn't THAT important, in that you will work the same with each anyhow and follow it. If you want fully horizontal, sandpaper is best. Don't worry so much about "roughing up". P180 soft backing won't be so aggressive, use a steady but not forceful pressure, and work on having a nice even coverage. As soon as you'll step up in grits, you'll be able to see the pattern clear quite readily. But under direct light, I find sandpaper to be a bit less forgiving than mud is all. Swirls and stray scratches will just show through if you're not especially careful. The best trick is to alternate direction, however not so obvious to do if you can't remove the handle.


Appreciate the helpful info. Yeah was a little concerned with the handle if I was doing it vertically on the stones. I have a natural stone from JKI and some fingerstones coming soon. I think I will start again at a lower grit, work a bit more, finish around 1500 and then maybe do a polishing with my natural stone when it gets here and try to make the kasumi a bit nicer.


----------



## ModRQC

Finger stones will help a lot too. Good luck with the project. Worst case scenario: you'll learn from your work/mistakes and do it better next time. Also getting to know along the way what level of polish you personally find satisfying enough. Knife is a tool, scratches are natural outcome, and especially with this iron cladded Carbon, patina will come to hide most of the stuff.


----------



## jedy617

ModRQC said:


> Finger stones will help a lot too. Good luck with the project. Worst case scenario: you'll learn from your work/mistakes and do it better next time. Also getting to know along the way what level of polish you personally find satisfying enough. Knife is a tool, scratches are natural outcome, and especially with this iron cladded Carbon, patina will come to hide most of the stuff.


Yep, I have refinished my zkramer and a running man forge nakiri and learned a lot, finishing wasn't the absolute best, but patina did hide most of it. I'm trying to be a bit more delicate with the finishing on this guy. Worst comes to worst I'll use it for awhile and have it finished professionaly, but I think I can do a good enough job myself hopefully.


----------



## jedy617

Welp I'm not super experienced yet and it didn't come out perfect, but I think it's a significant improvement after a few hours of work, what do we think?

Before:












After:


----------



## ModRQC

Take less sunny pictures of the after to reproduce light settings of the before.  When it shines it always looks nice. I seem to distinguish improvment though.


----------



## jedy617

ModRQC said:


> Take less sunny pictures of the after to reproduce light settings of the before.  When it shines it always looks nice. I seem to distinguish improvment though.


You would think so....but here is the before in the sun haha:


----------



## ModRQC

No no I just wanted to see the finer swirls you had, where they were at. These little devils can be stubborn to clear out using only one direction. You sure did a fine job of the more major scuffs which is nice. What grit did you end up using?


----------



## jedy617

ModRQC said:


> No no I just wanted to see the finer swirls you had, where they were at. These little devils can be stubborn to clear out using only one direction. You sure did a fine job of the more major scuffs which is nice. What grit did you end up using?


Yeah I got a lot of the major stuff out, but it's not perfect. But it is plenty good enough for me. So I started with 1000 for a bit, realized it wouldn't be course enough, so I did 500, then 1000, and then finished with 1500 wet sand, and I buffed with a little flitz. I taped off everything below where the kasumi(like where a shinogi line would be? middle point) and there are still plenty of swirls around there but I'm waiting on my fingerstones for that. Also have some stray sanding scratches but again don't think I can ever get it perfect perfect but I am happy with it


----------



## ModRQC

Which is exactly the point - being happy. Glad you shared, I’ll wait for the fingerstones results!


----------



## esoo

As this is a good place to drop this in case people go looking some time in the future. Sometimes people want to go looking to see how rare the non-gyutos are.

This month (Sept 2021), Kono sent out to vendors both B#2 Chuka Bocho and W#1 Nakiri

I found reference to 6 W#2 Cleavers being sold in Oct 2018, and the most recent info I can find on a Fuji nakiri is that Steve Gamache recorded one of his videos for W#2 nakiri in Nov 2015 so I guessing some were up for sale then.

This current batch of nakiri is a different beast. In 2015, they were 170mm (true edge) x 49.5mm @147g (with ho wood handle). This batch of nakiri is 183mm (true edge) x 54.5mm @ 219g (with ebony handle)


----------



## KnightKnightForever

Can anyone give me some more information on this Konosuke, particularly in terms of model/year of mfr?


----------



## silylanjie

KnightKnightForever said:


> Can anyone give me some more information on this Konosuke, particularly in terms of model/year of mfr?



I think that might be the Konosuke Fuji 270mm White #2 Kiritsuke Gyuto from around the year 2014-2016 from CKTG.


----------



## francoalophoto

@Omega For someone like myself who wanted to learn about Konosuke, and the Fujiyama line, this thread has been the best piece of knowledge I have ever come across in one single place. THANK YOU, for what was probably more sadistic psychosis than anything haha, for taking the time to properly articulate the history of the brand and the line. A buddy of mine is sending me a Konosuke FM Fujiyama so I can have a look at it before sending it back to him. After reading this, I'm so stoked to have that opportunity!


----------



## JASinIL2006

I've read and re-read this thread and I'm still confused about where my Fujiyama fits into the history of this knife and I'm hoping @Omega or anyone else can help me out. I bought a used 210 mm Konosuke Fujiyama Blue #2 gyuto (from a very nice guy who happens to be a member here). I bought it in January 2021, but it (I believe) was originally purchased new from CKTG several years earlier. Other than that, I don't know a lot about it, other than it's one of my very favorite knives; it's one of those knives that just feels perfect in your hand. 

Pictures are below... can anyone help me figure out how this fits into the Fujiyama history? Thanks!


----------



## bahamaroot

That is an earlier FM Fujiyama sharpened by Myojin before they started putting his stamp on them but after they stopped using the Konosuke stamp. It would have been sold most likely sometime in 2019 to mid 2020. In 2018 they had the Konosuke stamp and in mid 2020 they started putting Myojins' stamp on the left side of the knife.

2018 FM Fujiyama





2019 FM Fujiyama





2020 FM Fujiyama


----------



## JASinIL2006

That is very helpful... I was stumped by the lack of the stamp, but I just now went back read (again) the section that addresses that and it makes sense. 

Thanks!


----------



## Southpaw

jacko9 said:


> Thanks for the info and I would guess that they are forged by one blacksmith and used to be just sharpened by the two at one time.


Don’t know if anyone told you but the Konosuke FT is nearly identical to the Takada no Hamono Suiboku. I’m all but convinced that the T in FT is Takada.

I have a 2017 Fujiyama with the same handle as my FT and there is over a 20 gram difference!

I love my FT though, but it’s definitely very different from the other Fujiyama lines


----------



## Namaxy

Curious what people might think about the construction/history, and what I perceive as meaningful differences in these knives.







Left to right: An old beater HH, then a Fuji gyuto, nakiri and Bunka. (no HH in the second photo.) Of the three, I'm unsure of the age of the gyuto (bought used). I bought the Nakiri used here in 2019, and the Bunka BNIB a year or two before that.

There are some obvious differences in the Kanji, and the degree and method of polishing. What stands out to me most though is the weight. The bunka, by far my favorite, and the best IMO performance wise, is noticeably heavier at 228 grams. By comparison, the gyuto is 199 grams and the nakiri 182 grams. I have another Kono Bunka, similar length but less tall, that is noticeably lighter.

Any thoughts on these in terms of forging, sharpening and the weight of the bunka? I'm very late to the party having read this thread, but I'm still struck by variability in this line of knives. Perhaps now that I've read this thread it's naive to think of Kono fuji as a particular line of knives.


----------



## Mikeadunne

Namaxy said:


> Curious what people might think about the construction/history, and what I perceive as meaningful differences in these knives.View attachment 203694
> View attachment 203695
> 
> 
> Left to right: An old beater HH, then a Fuji gyuto, nakiri and Bunka. (no HH in the second photo.) Of the three, I'm unsure of the age of the gyuto (bought used). I bought the Nakiri used here in 2019, and the Bunka BNIB a year or two before that.
> 
> There are some obvious differences in the Kanji, and the degree and method of polishing. What stands out to me most though is the weight. The bunka, by far my favorite, and the best IMO performance wise, is noticeably heavier at 228 grams. By comparison, the gyuto is 199 grams and the nakiri 182 grams. I have another Kono Bunka, similar length but less tall, that is noticeably lighter.
> 
> Any thoughts on these in terms of forging, sharpening and the weight of the bunka? I'm very late to the party having read this thread, but I'm still struck by variability in this line of knives. Perhaps now that I've read this thread it's naive to think of Kono fuji as a particular line of knives.


I have that same bunka and a few other fujis and you’re right - the bunka is a whole different experience. It might be my favorite of my entire lineup.


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