Why the Nakiri Is a Go-To Knife for Many Chefs?
August 21, 2025
The Nakiri’s straight, rectangular blade gives full edge contact for clean vegetable cuts, less wrist strain and uniform thin slices every time.
The Journal · Stories from Oishya
The Oishya Journal
Stories from the workshops, the table, and the long way around.
Featured · From the Journal
In this issue
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How to Peel Dragon Fruit (and Creative Ways to Enjoy It)
August 18, 2025
How to peel and prepare dragon fruit with a sharp knife, plus creative ways to serve it as sashimi, carpaccio, smoothie bowls and frozen treats.
The healthiest and tastiest Granola you’ll ever eat
August 18, 2025
A homemade granola with oats, nuts, vanilla bean and orange honey, baked then split into three batches: coconut, dried fruit and dark chocolate.
Moroccan Beef Stew with Red Lentils And Black Jasmin Rice
August 17, 2025
A Moroccan beef stew with red lentils, warming spices, apricots and honey, served over black jasmine rice. The lentils thicken it beautifully.
Cooking at Home or Eating Out? What’s Better for You?
August 15, 2025
Cooking at home or eating out? A look at the real costs to your wallet, health and time, and when each choice genuinely serves you best.
The Tastiest Polish Sausage Sourdough Sandwich You’ll Ever Make
August 15, 2025
A Polish sausage sandwich on fresh sourdough with Wiejska or Podwawelska, Sarebska mustard, tomato, lettuce and gherkins, grilled until crisp.
Spicy Gochugaru Cucumber Salad
August 15, 2025
A quick spicy gochugaru cucumber salad with soy, garlic, sesame oil and rice vinegar. Salt the cucumbers, toss, and let the flavours meld.
Kiritsuke vs Bunka: Which Of Those Japanese Knives Is Right For You?
August 14, 2025
Kiritsuke or Bunka? The longer, elegant Kiritsuke suits showpiece slicing, while the shorter Bunka is a nimble everyday workhorse with a tanto tip.
Faster Chopping, Knife Skills, and Understanding Chopping Terms: Dice, Mince, Julienne and more
August 10, 2025
Build faster, safer knife skills with proper grips, the claw technique and the get-to-flat principle, plus what dice, mince and julienne really mean.
How to cut onion and not your fingers: the “claw” technique
August 10, 2025
The claw grip is the one technique that keeps fingers safe while cutting onions. Curl your fingertips, use the knuckle as a guide, and cut with control.
4 Ways To Hold A Kitchen Knife Safely
August 3, 2025
Four ways to hold a kitchen knife, from the pointed finger grip for detail work to the familiar hammer grip, and when each one actually helps.
Baking vs. Cooking: What Your Kitchen Style Says About You
August 3, 2025
Bakers measure, cooks eyeball. What your kitchen style says about your personality, from the methodical precision of baking to free-form cooking.
Kitchen Knife Anatomy: A Complete Guide to Understanding Your Most Essential Cooking Tool
August 3, 2025
A guide to knife anatomy, covering the blade, edge, spine, tang, handle and bolster, and how German and Japanese traditions design each part.
Keeping Sharp Kitchen Knives Safe with Little Ones at Home
July 13, 2025
How to store sharp Japanese knives safely around young children, with practical storage habits, clear boundaries and age-appropriate teaching.
Japanese Knives and Food Safety: Professional Standards at Home
July 13, 2025
How Japanese chefs handle razor-sharp knives safely at home, from grip and stance to caring for reactive carbon steel and keeping food pristine.
10 Timeless Wedding Gifts for Japan Enthusiasts: Where Tradition Meets Modern Love
June 30, 2025
Ten wedding gifts for couples who love Japan, anchored by a SHIN Damascus Gyuto and framed by mono no aware and the shokunin ideal.
5 Most Toxic Products to Remove from Your Kitchen Immediately
June 8, 2025
PFAS in scratched non-stick, microplastics off plastic boards, fragrance in scented candles: five kitchen culprits and the safer swaps for each.
Japanese Knife Gift Guide: Choosing Knives for Others
June 7, 2025
Buying a knife for someone whose kitchen you’ve never seen? How to choose by likely skill level instead of guesswork, with the quiz as a shortcut.
Which Japanese Knife for Which Technique: Showcasing Each at Its Best
April 10, 2025
The Gyuto rocks, the Santoku push-cuts, the Bunka splits the difference. Each blade shape has one signature move it was ground to do best.
How to Chop an Onion Without Crying: A Step-by-Step Guide
April 10, 2025
The trick is the root: leave it attached and it anchors the onion through the horizontal, vertical and cross cuts. A sharp blade and a damp towel do the rest.
What’s the Difference Between Gyuto, Santoku, Bunka and Kiritsuke?
April 10, 2025
‘Gyuto’ translates to cow sword and dates to the Meiji era. What actually separates these four blades by shape, history and how you cook.
The Science of Sharpness: Why Japanese Knives Are Different
December 7, 2024
Japanese knives use harder steel and a 10 to 15 degree edge, so they cut with less force than thicker Western blades. Here is the science behind it.
A Japanese Holiday Gift Guide: For Those Who Dream In Snow-Covered Fuji-San
December 2, 2024
Every Oishya knife ships with a 5 yen coin, a pun on ‘go-en’: five yen and a good relationship. Gift picks from washi-wrapped KATA Damascus to Hiba boards.
The Craft and Precision of Japanese Knives: A Beginner’s Guide
October 1, 2024
A beginner’s look at Japanese knives, from san mai construction and high-carbon steel to the ikigai and kaizen philosophy that shapes how they are made.
The Ultimate Guide to Eating Sushi: Do’s and Don’ts for Beginners
August 22, 2024
Ginger cleanses the palate between pieces, not on top of them. Sushi-bar etiquette from chopstick rules to soy, wasabi and the omakase counter.
How Home Cooking Can Save the Planet
August 11, 2024
Roughly a third of the food produced worldwide is thrown away. Cooking from scratch cuts the packaging, food miles and waste that industrial meals rack up.
Exploring Japanese Knife Styles: Kiritsuke, Bunka, Gyuto, and Santoku
July 31, 2024
The kiritsuke, bunka, gyuto, and santoku compared by shape, use, and skill level to help home cooks pick the right Japanese knife.
The World Of Dumplings: Gyoza, Pierogi, Dim Sum, Pielmieni And More
June 26, 2024
Nearly every cuisine folds dough around a filling. Crispy-bottomed gyoza, butter-fried pierogi, Cantonese har gow and Russian pelmeni, side by side.
Is R2 and SG2 Steel the Same in Japanese Knives?
May 27, 2024
Fraternal twins, or the same steel under two names? R2 and SG2 share the carbon-moly-vanadium recipe of powdered stainless, with a few telling differences.
The Art of Karate: A Journey of Discipline, Strength, and Tradition
May 16, 2024
Karate began in Okinawa as ‘te’, shaped by Chinese martial arts and practised in secret under weapon bans. Its history, philosophy, and core techniques.
The steel decides when it's ready. Not me. — Our Sakai blacksmith, on patience
From the workshops
Stories from the places our knives are made.
Japanese Knife Care: 5 Essential Rules for a Lifetime of Sharp Cutting
April 4, 2026
Five rules for caring for a Japanese knife, covering hand washing, the right cutting board, whetstone sharpening, and proper storage.
The Story Behind Oishya: From Japan’s Knife Villages to Your Kitchen
April 4, 2026
The story of Oishya, a brand born from trips to Sakai and Seki that works with Japanese workshops to make knives for European home cooks.
Best Kitchen Gifts for Summer 2026: 10 Ideas They Will Love
April 4, 2026
Ten kitchen gifts for summer 2026 cooks, from a Sakai Kyuba santoku and brass chopsticks to walnut cutting boards and a three-knife set.
A note from Kamila
Why we write a journal at all.
We grew Oishya through stories, not ads. The articles we wrote, the workshops we visited, the meals we cooked. This journal is where that work lives.
Some pieces teach you about steel and edges. Some are recipes. Some are just the long way around to saying that good tools, made by people we know, are worth keeping.
On the table
Meals worth keeping.
Japanese Knife Care: 5 Essential Rules for a Lifetime of Sharp Cutting
April 4, 2026
Five rules for caring for a Japanese knife, covering hand washing, the right cutting board, whetstone sharpening, and proper storage.
The Story Behind Oishya: From Japan’s Knife Villages to Your Kitchen
April 4, 2026
The story of Oishya, a brand born from trips to Sakai and Seki that works with Japanese workshops to make knives for European home cooks.
Best Kitchen Gifts for Summer 2026: 10 Ideas They Will Love
April 4, 2026
Ten kitchen gifts for summer 2026 cooks, from a Sakai Kyuba santoku and brass chopsticks to walnut cutting boards and a three-knife set.
Blades behind the stories
The knives these stories are about.
Every story here started with a blade. Find the one that matches the way you cook.
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