The Records · A Memorial Registry
廃業
The Knife Graveyard
A registry of Japanese knives you can no longer buy new: the forges that went cold, the smiths who put down the hammer, the lines that quietly vanished from catalogs, and one steel that disappeared without a press release. Dates, reasons, and what happened to the knives, each with its source.
01 · Scope
What counts as dead
Inclusion requires a documented ending: a closure announcement, an obituary, a retirement recorded by a maker, cooperative, or dealer, or a line visibly withdrawn from catalogs. Each entry states its confidence level. Documented means an official notice or multiple independent records. Forum record means the knife world's collective memory: dated threads, dealer announcements relayed to communities. It is often the only record that exists, and we cite it as what it is. Thin means a single source we could not corroborate.
Where a workshop continues under a successor, the entry records a handover, not a death; the smith's own signed work still becomes finite the day the hammer stops, which is why collectors care. Where we could not document an ending at all, the candidate is listed under rejected entries instead. Gaps are honest gaps.
02 · Forges That Went Cold
Closed for good
Hiromoto (Tenmi-Jyuraku)天味寿楽
Closure announced July 2014 · production ended by 2015
The forum era's favorite value carbon knife. The Tenmi-Jyuraku Aogami Super gyuto was for years the stock answer to "first serious Japanese knife," sold with no marketing budget and a cult following. In July 2014 a US retailer announced the company was closing: its owner, Mr. Nagao, then in his eighties, was retiring with no son and no young craftsmen to take over, and production had already quietly stopped[1]. The distributor's page closes the book: "In 2015, at the age of 80 years old, Master Nagao unfortunately decided to retired [sic] due to his old age... the entire range of Hiromoto knives has been discontinued"[2].
Aftermath: one retailer bought roughly 450 remaining knives and sold the stock down; new-old-stock pieces were still being traded by collectors in 2019, "out of production since 2015, no more will ever be made"[3]. Read our full Hiromoto profile.
Genkai Masakuni (Mukai Yoneo)玄海正国 · 向米雄
Ended September 2025 · death of the smith
A one-man forge on Kabeshima island off Yobuko, Saga Prefecture, and one of very few smiths anywhere still making fully water-quenched honyaki kitchen knives. The mark reads "Genkai" for the sea around his island and "Masakuni" for the Yobuko village blacksmith he trained under[4]. In September 2025 his specialist dealer posted the notice collectors dread: the smith had died, and "these knives will become ever harder to obtain from now on"[5].
Aftermath: no successor is documented. What remains in dealer stock is all there will ever be.
03 · The Hammers Put Down
Smiths whose signed work is now finite
Keijiro Doi土井敬次郎 · Sakai
Retired 2012 · died November 12, 2017, aged 90
Sixty-six years at the forge, from age 19 to 85. Credited by dealers with some of the finest kitchen knives Sakai ever produced and with pioneering work in Aogami #2; designated a Traditional Craftsman in 1987[6]. The Sakai house Suisin published his obituary, remembering the way he mentored younger craftsmen: "if you ever run into trouble, come tell me anything"[7].
Aftermath: his son Itsuo Doi, a blacksmith for more than forty years since apprenticing at 24, carries the forge on[8]; Keijiro-stamped blades trade as collector pieces. See our Doi Hamono profile and the family line on the Smith Lineage Tree.
Kenichi Shiraki白木刃物 · Sakai
Retired around 2020 (retailer-dated) · successor independent April 2021
Described as one of only four blacksmiths able to reliably water-quench shirogami honyaki, the most failure-prone blade in the Japanese kitchen canon[9]. The retirement year of 2020 appears in retailer copy[10]; what the primary Sakai sources establish directly is that his only apprentice, Satoshi Nakagawa, left after 16 years to found Nakagawa Uchihamono in April 2021 as his designated successor, inheriting the mizu-honyaki technique[11].
Aftermath: collectors promptly asked how to tell Shiraki-forged from Nakagawa-forged blades; the honest community conclusion is that, given the shared stamp and divided labor, you mostly cannot[12].
Kiyoshi Katosold as Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Retirement announced April 2023
The hobby's archetypal unobtanium: a reclusive smith whose Aogami Super workhorse gyutos were already trickling out at a handful per quarter before the end. In April 2023 his primary dealer's newsletter announced the retirement, relayed the same day to the forums: "hardly surprising news given he's in his late 70's"[13].
Aftermath: no successor or apprentice is mentioned in any account we found. In the same thread, secondary-market 240mm gyutos were reported around $1,200 to 1,400, a Morihei version at $2,550, and a western-handle example at $4,800. Current ordering reality is on the Waitlist Index.
Katsushige Anryu安立勝重 · Echizen
Stepped down at the end of 2020 · successor and rename effective January 2021
Fourth-generation head of the Anryu forge and a co-founder of Takefu Knife Village, known worldwide for hammered kurouchi blades. The cooperative's own record is precise: fourth generation 1981 to 2020, fifth generation from 2021, company renamed Anryu Uchihamono in January 2021[14]; his dealer dates the retirement to January 2021 and notes he still mentors at the workshop[15].
Aftermath: his nephew and longtime apprentice Takumi Ikeda now heads the forge, so the house lives on while Katsushige-forged blades become a closed catalog. See our Anryu profile.
Hiroshi Kato加藤弘 · Echizen
Retired by 2023 · Order of the Sacred Treasure the same year
The Takefu master famed for output that sounds apocryphal until dealers repeat it with a straight face: over 200 blades forged in a day, for lines including Masakage and Kanehiro. An October 2023 dealer feature lists him among retired smiths and records his Order of the Sacred Treasure, Silver Rays, awarded 2023[15]. No source gives an exact retirement date; his son-in-law's takeover of the family forge is dated 2018 in our own research, so we print "retired by 2023" and no more.
Aftermath: Yoshimi Kato leads the renamed Kato Uchihamono; the teacher's students (Yu Kurosaki, Makoto Kurosaki, Yoshimi Kato) are the modern Echizen school, mapped on the Smith Lineage Tree.
Masami AzaiTakefu
Died July 12, 2014, aged 66
Takefu smith celebrated for R2 etched damascus kitchen knives. Not a retirement: he died in office, ending his production outright[15].
Aftermath: Nao Yamamoto is named as the successor carrying his techniques forward; Azai-signed R2 damascus is finite.
04 · Lines That Died
Withdrawn from the catalog
Shun Blue (Kai)
Discontinued · year not publicly documented
Shun's carbon-core line of traditional profiles, developed with chef Chris Cosentino and widely considered one of the brand's best-performing ranges. Its death was never announced; it simply stopped. A forum thread titled "Shun Blue line discontinued" recorded the community's verdict: "their blue line is now discontinued and it was one of their very best" (paraphrased from search-indexed thread text)[16], and surviving retail listings now carry the "(Discontinued)" flag in the product title itself[17].
Aftermath: remaining stock sold through; the line is a used-market search now.
Shun Elite and Shun Reserve (Kai)
Elite replaced by Reserve · Reserve later retailer-listed as discontinued
Shun's SG2 powder-steel premium tiers, casualties of ordinary catalog rotation. Blog-era coverage records the Elite line being replaced by the Reserve line, per retailer copy developed in cooperation with bladesmith Bob Kramer[18]; Reserve pieces now sit on retailer discontinued-products pages[19]. No manufacturer announcement exists for either ending, so we say retailer-listed and leave it there.
Aftermath: remaining stock at closeout; SG2 lives on in other Kai lines.
Konosuke HD, the original
Ended early 2010s · steel batch ran out
The semi-stainless laser that built Konosuke's reputation among Western professionals has a founding legend the community still repeats: per forum history, the original HD was made from a batch of steel found in storage after some twenty years, and when it ran out the line was renamed HD2 with a close-match replacement (paraphrased from search-indexed thread text)[20]. Collectors have debated the difference ever since; the follow-up thread's claim was that "HD2 is supposed to be more stain resistant and have better retention," which other posters in the same thread dispute[21].
Aftermath: original-HD examples are distinguished and hunted by collectors; HD2 continued with its own slow restocks.
Cold Steel Trail Master San Mai III, Japan productionSeki · attributed to Hattori
Japan production ended 2024
For collectors of Japanese-made blades this was the last of its kind in the Cold Steel catalog: a VG-1 San Mai III bowie forged and convex-ground in Seki, attributed by collectors to Ichiro Hattori's shop. Following GSM Outdoors' purchase of Cold Steel, forum records date the end of Japan production to 2024, with the model continuing under the same name and VG-1 core from Taiwan (paraphrased from search-indexed thread text; the forum blocks archival fetch)[22].
Aftermath: Japan-made specimens are tracked by serial and markings and command a premium over the continuing Taiwan production.
Tsuge Silver Stream (Kitasho)Seki · made by Hattori
Original discontinued, year undocumented · successor model in limited runs
Kitasho's combat-knife brand designed around ex-military author Hisayoshi Tsuge and manufactured by Ichiro Hattori. Collector documentation records: "The original Silver Stream is discontinued, but the Silver Stream II can still be found occasionally and appears to be produced in limited numbers," the TS-31 reappearing as a serial-numbered run of 150[23]. More on the parent house on our Kitasho and Tsuge page.
Aftermath: originals circulate through collector sites and Japanese auctions at strong prices.
05 · The Steel That Vanished
ZDP-189, gone without a press release
ZDP-189Hitachi Metals, now Proterial
Phased out circa 2020-2022 · never formally announced
The 3-percent-carbon powder steel that defined extreme hardness for a generation of knives, kitchen and folding alike. Its ending is a case study in how steels die: no notice, just supply drying up. A knife-forum thread from late 2021 relays Spyderco's account, "Sal eventually said Hitachi told them ZDP was being discontinued," with metallurgist Larrin Thomas confirming it was "being phased out over time"[24]; Spyderco's own forum carries the account that heat treatment had been restricted to approved facilities in Japan[25]; and a retailer analysis connects the quiet phase-out to Bain Capital's 2022 acquisition of Hitachi Metals and the renamed Proterial's shift toward "high-margin, sustainable materials"[26].
Aftermath: Spyderco converted its Seki-made ZDP models to K390; remaining ZDP-189 kitchen knives sell as end-of-line stock (see the Sukenari entry on the Waitlist Index). Full steel story on our ZDP-189 page.
06 · The Watchlist
Not dead, not alive
Entries with no documented ending but no meaningful production reaching the market. Candidates for this registry; residents, for now, of limbo.
Hattori KD (Cowry-X)Seki
Production "very limited since 2008" · never formally discontinued
The distributor states KD production has been very limited since 2008, citing Mr. Hattori's advanced age and reduced fitness, and separately that Hattori does not know when the knives will become available again[27]. Special-order batches still surface: on our observation date, 9 of 23 items in the collection (Forums Custom Limited pieces) were in stock; the classic KD-1 through KD-4 were not.
ShigefusaSanjo
Producing at a trickle · no retirement or stoppage statement exists
The most mythologized name in the hobby is not closed: dealers confirm knives still arrive, in small batches, years after ordering, with distribution one European dealer describes as feeling arbitrary[28]. We searched for a retirement or stoppage announcement in both languages and found none. Until one exists, Shigefusa belongs here and on the Waitlist Index, not among the dead.
Ken Kageura
Semi-retired · no apprentice
Described by his dealer as "the last of his line to work as the village blacksmith," 25 generations deep, semi-retired by preference (the account says he would rather fish), with no apprentice and occasional blades still surfacing[15]. When his hammer stops, a 25-generation line ends with it; nothing about that is announced in advance.
Sakai Suehiro (Horikame shoten)堀亀商店
Believed folded 1990s to early 2000s · undocumented
A Sakai wholesaler brand whose knives are still common on Japan's used market. The only record of its ending is a forum estimate: "given how many knives are still around I'd say they went out of business in the 90's or early 2000's"[29]. Included as the registry's reminder that most knife businesses die exactly this quietly.
07 · Rejected Entries
Checked and not dead
Candidates we researched and declined to bury, because the evidence says otherwise. Listed so you do not have to repeat the work, and so you can see the bar for inclusion.
- Sakai Yusuke: rumored gone after a sales channel closed; actually relocated from Sakai to Uda, Nara in 2019 and still produces.
- Suisin: no closure documentation found; active.
- Yoshikazu Ikeda: no retirement or obituary in either language as of August 2026; his honyaki were in stock at retail on our observation date (see the Waitlist Index).
- Kenji Togashi: still forging; received the Order of the Sacred Treasure in 2022. No retirement documented.
- Miwa Ikeda: dealer pages note age and shrinking output, plus a May 2024 exhibition; no retirement documented, so not listed.
- Cowry-X (Daido steel): often assumed dead alongside its most famous user; we found no documented discontinuation by Daido, only extreme rarity of users.
Japanese-language sweeps for closure notices (廃業のお知らせ) from knife forges in Sanjo, Seki, Echizen, Tosa, and Kyoto returned no named closures beyond the entries above; regional successor-shortage coverage names no specific closed kitchen-knife forge. Thirteen searches came up empty and are logged in our research archive.
08 · Methodology
How this registry is kept
- Two-language research. English sweeps of dealer announcements and community archives; Japanese sweeps of maker sites, obituaries, craft associations, and regional press.
- Adversarial verification. Every citation was re-fetched and checked against the claim before publication. Two claims failed that check and were corrected; one lineage theory our own source debunked was removed.
- Forum records are labeled. For small forges, dated community threads are frequently the only record of an ending. We cite them as forum records, never as official statements. Where a forum blocks archival access and a quote comes from search-indexed text, we say "paraphrased."
- Update cadence: annual, with immediate additions for documented closures. Corrections and submissions with a source: info@okamiblades.com. The changelog will record every addition and every reversal.
Last updated August 19, 2026. Per our citation policy, hyperlinks go only to makers' official sites, institutions, and major press; dealer pages and forums are cited by name without links.
09 · References
Sources
- Chef Knives To Go forum, thread "Hiromoto is done," announcement by Mark Richmond, July 15, 2014. Forum thread, cited without link.
- JapaneseChefsKnife.com, Hiromoto collection page: retirement of Master Nagao in 2015 at age 80 and discontinuation of the entire range. Dealer page, cited without link.
- Kitchen Knife Forums, new-old-stock sale thread, March 2019: "out of production since 2015, no more will ever be made." Forum thread, cited without link.
- Shokunin Zukan, craftsman profile of the Kabeshima forge, October 16, 2019. The profile explains the mark's true origin and notes the Okishiba Masakuni connection is only a theory. Japanese craft press, cited without link.
- Togi to Kaji (specialist dealer), notice on its Genkai Masakuni listings, September 2025: the smith has died and the knives will become increasingly hard to obtain. Dealer notice, cited without link.
- Kireaji (retailer), Keijiro Doi collection biography: retired 2012, died 2017, Traditional Craftsman 1987. Dealer page, cited without link.
- Suisin, official obituary for Keijiro Doi: died November 12, 2017 at 90; forged from age 19 to 85. suisin.co.jp
- Chubo Knives, profile of Itsuo Doi: apprenticed at 24, more than 40 years as a blacksmith, heads forging for Sakai Takayuki. Dealer page, cited without link.
- Knifewear, "Retired Japanese Blacksmiths" feature, October 30, 2023: Shiraki as one of only four smiths able to reliably water-quench shirogami honyaki; Nakagawa's 16-year apprenticeship. Dealer article, cited without link.
- Hocho-Knife, Satoshi Nakagawa page: "the only successor of the legendary famous blacksmith Kennichi Shiraki who retired in 2020." Dealer page, cited without link.
- Sakai Open Factory (Sakai City industry program), Nakagawa Kajiya profile: 16 years at Shiraki Hamono, independent April 2021 as sole apprentice and successor. sakai-openfactory.jp; corroborated by a Sakai Ichimonji column (retailer, cited without link).
- Kitchen Knife Forums, thread "Shiraki vs Nakagawa forged, how to tell the difference." Forum thread, cited without link.
- Kitchen Knife Forums, thread "Possibly end of an era, Kiyoshi Kato retired," April 3, 2023, relaying the JNS newsletter announcement; secondary-market prices from the same thread. Forum thread, cited without link.
- Takefu Knife Village, official Anryu company history: fourth-generation tenure 1981 to 2020, fifth generation from 2021, January 2021 rename. takefu-knifevillage.jp
- Knifewear, "Retired Japanese Blacksmiths" feature, October 30, 2023: profiles of Anryu (retired January 2021), Hiroshi Kato (listed retired; Order of the Sacred Treasure 2023), Masami Azai (died July 12, 2014), Ken Kageura (semi-retired, no apprentice), and Kenichi Shiraki. Dealer article, cited without link.
- Chef Knives To Go forums (current forum domain), thread "Shun Blue line discontinued." Forum thread, quote paraphrased from search-indexed text; cited without link.
- Retail listing titled "Shun Blue 5.5 inch Petty Knife (Discontinued)." Retailer page, cited without link.
- Ken's Kitchen Blog, April 13, 2017: Elite line replaced by Reserve, both SG2, Reserve developed in cooperation with Bob Kramer per retailer copy. Blog, cited without link.
- Ross Cutlery, Discontinued Products collection (Shun), listing a Shun Reserve bread knife. Retailer page, cited without link.
- Chef Knives To Go forums (current forum domain), thread "Konosuke: Anyone know anything about the original HD?" Forum thread, quote paraphrased from search-indexed text; cited without link.
- Kitchen Knife Forums, thread "Difference HD vs HD2": "HD2 is supposed to be more stain resistant and have better retention," disputed by other posters in the same thread. Forum thread, cited without link.
- BladeForums, thread on the San Mai III Trail Master's status, and related threads dating the end of Japan production to May 2024 under GSM Outdoors, with Taiwan continuation. Forum threads, paraphrased from search-indexed text; cited without link.
- Hattori Collector, "The Hattori Fighter," September 22, 2015: Silver Stream discontinued, Silver Stream II limited, TS-31 serial run of 150. Collector site, cited without link.
- Kitchen Knife Forums, thread "ZDP-189 discontinued," December 2021 to January 2022. Forum thread, cited without link.
- Spyderco Forums, thread "Sal, why is ZDP-189 being phased out in favor of K390?", including the account that heat treatment was restricted to approved facilities in Japan. Forum thread, paraphrased from search-indexed text; cited without link.
- Kireaji blog, "Is ZDP189 no longer available? The truth behind the legendary steel": quiet phase-out; Bain Capital 2022 acquisition; Proterial 2023 rename. Retailer analysis, cited without link.
- JapaneseChefsKnife.com, Hattori KD Series collection page. Dealer page, cited without link.
- Cleancut (Sweden), "Meet our blacksmiths: Shigefusa": knives cannot currently be ordered; piece-by-piece distribution. Dealer page, cited without link.
- Kitchen Knife Forums, thread "Suehiro Sakai." Forum thread, cited without link.
Keep Exploring
Related reading
- The Waitlist Index: the knives you can still get, if you are patient.
- The Smith Lineage Tree: who trained whom, including several smiths on this page.
- Hiromoto: our full profile of the registry's founding entry.
- ZDP-189: the full story of the vanishing steel.
