Hatsukokoro kitchen knives are manufactured in Tosa, Japan. They use stainless steel all the way up to carbon steels like Blue #2 steel or White #2 utilising various construction methods both hand-forged and machine rolled. By blending both techniques, they are able to increase output without essentially changing the features that make handmade Japanese knives such sought after products. All the Hatsukokoro blades are hand finished, sharpened and polished by a team of well know craftsmen that have all been apprentices at the Takefu Knife Village collective. The word Hatsukokoro stems from the Japanese proverb “don’t forget your original intention”. Although the original pronunciation would be “shoshin”, we chose to use the gentler pronunciation of Hatsukokoro.