Sakai Kyuba KYU Knife Set: Gyuto, Nakiri, Petty
Quality in cut. Beauty in design. Drawing from a 600 year old blacksmithing tradition, The Sakai Kyuba 堺久馬 kitchen knife set is designed to intensify pleasure from cooking. The three knives: Chef’s, Vegetable and Paring knife are the only 3 knives you will ever need. Blades are set in a premium-cut, waterproof stabilised maple burl wood dyed Mediterranean Blue. The knives come in a handcrafted, minimalist wooden box wrapped in a unique illustration strip. The set comes with a lifetime guarantee.
Lifetime warranty
All three blades, covered for life.
Free UK delivery
Included on every set.
100-day returns
Cook with the whole set. Send it back if it isn't right.
Hand-finished box
Hanko-stamped certificate, 5 yen coin tucked alongside.
What's in the set
Three knives, chosen to cover a kitchen.
The Last Knife Set You'll Ever Need
The Sakai Kyuba Japanese kitchen knife set in Olive Green includes three knives, each perfectly balanced with optimal sharpness, precision and durability:
- A Chef’s Knife 210mm / 8.3in – The Gyuto – a daily knife, a versatile all-rounder slicing knife, a typical Japanese shape, longer than Santoku
- A Vegetable Knife 160mm / 7in – The Nakiri – thin and sharp, perfect for chopping and dicing vegetables;
- A Paring Knife 150mm / 5in – The Petty – extra nimble to tackle the smaller, more intricate chores like peeling or carving.
With these three quality Japanese knives you will be able to perform any cutting task in the kitchen with ease and efficiency. The Santoku, Nakiri and Petty are the only knives you will need, a beautiful knife set that will last for generations. As unique and everlasting as the memories you will create using them. You will love using them.
The Blades: Sharpness, Versatility and Tradition
The blades in this Japanese kitchen knives set are designed to make cooking more enjoyable as cutting through produce will become an effortless task.
The blades in this Japanese kitchen knife set are handcrafted by skilled Japanese blacksmiths in Sakai, Japan with premium Japanese AUS10 stainless steel. AUS10 is a stainless steel with a high carbon content, making it harder than most stainless steel types. With AUS10, you get the hardness of a carbon steel but the corrosion resistance of stainless. Hence, AUS10 steel offers an excellent balance between toughness, durability, and a razor sharpness.
The blades have a Rockwell Hardness rating (HRC) of 62 which means the edge stays noticeably sharper for a longer time. This means you won’t have to worry about sharpening them often. They are forged with 46 layers of Damascus steel which is legendary for its plasticity, hardness and distinctive patterns. The blades will allow foods to be easily and promptly cut with precision.
No Handle Pattern
Is The Same
The beautiful handles are made with extremely limited European maple burl dyed in an Mediterranean Blue colour and feature a subtle copper ring under the oak bog wood kakumaki (collar of the handle). The wood has to be dried for two years before it undergoes the process of stabilisation. This ensures the wood is completely waterproof to avoid bacteria growth and is able to last generations.
The Japanese kitchen knife set’s kakumaki (collar) is made with oak bog wood. A wood ranging from 2,500 to 5,000 years in age. Its age and living conditions give it a unique character and rich natural colour variation determined by its age. Giving you a knife with a rich history.
The stabilised premium-cut maple burl is shaped into an octagonal shaped ambidextrous handle to give you a firm grip on the knife. Not only are the handles aesthetically pleasing, they are also perfectly balanced, light and comfortable. This allows for maximum precision and more controlled movements during use.
Please note that no two handle colours or patterns are ever the same as the natural properties of each wood block are unique and will absorb the colour dye differently. This will give each knife a beautiful unique look.
Because Presentation And Packaging Matter Just As Much
All Sakai Kyuba kitchen knives set come in a handcrafted, minimalist European Oak wooden box with a delicate waxed finish. The box is wrapped in a Oishya signature illustration strip featuring the Onna Bugeisha – Japanese female warriors.
Inside, you’ll see a beautiful note with a genuine 5 Japanese yen coin for luck. There’s an ancient superstition that giving someone a knife is bad luck because it cuts the relationship between the giver and the recipient. The way around this is to attach a coin of symbolic value to the knife, which is then returned to the giver as a form of payment. As we want you to maintain your relationships with your loved ones, here is a 5 yen coin.
The Japanese for five yen go en (五円) is a homophone with go-en (御縁), which means relationship, connection and bond. So by exchanging this coin with the receiver you no longer have to worry about this superstition.
The blades
Shared specifications.
| Weight | 1.7 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 45 × 10 × 6 cm |
| Knife Type | |
| Blade Length | |
| Steel Type | |
| HRC | |
| Knife Bevel | Double |
| Hand Feature | Ambidextrous |
| Handle Waterproof | Yes |
| Made in | Japan |
| Maker | Oishya |
| Knife Handle Material | |
| Knife Weight | 411g |
The hands that make it
Three knives. One workshop. One standard.
Every blade in the KYU set is forged in Sakai, Osaka, by a master blacksmith whose family has been at this work since 1927. Same AUS10 steel, same 46-layer hammered Damascus, the same standard across all three knives.
An AUS10 core in 46 hammered Damascus layers, hardened to HRC 62.
The handles are finished in Małopolska, Poland, by the same craftsmen who finish every Oishya handle: a stabilised maple burl body, a bog oak ferrule (the kakumaki), a hand-fitted copper ring, an octagonal profile. Assembled by hand, one knife at a time.
Care, briefly
Three knives. Same three habits.
01.
Hand wash all three.
Never the dishwasher. Sixty seconds at the sink, then a soft towel. Water on hard Japanese steel is the only thing that rusts it.
02.
Wood boards only.
Glass, stone and marble are harder than the steel and dull the edge in a week. End-grain hardwood is the right choice — hinoki cypress if you can find it.
03.
Sharpen on a stone.
Never a honing rod — the steel is too hard, it chips the edge. A 1000/6000 whetstone every three or four months keeps all three keen.
What you receive
In the box.
- The three knives in your set, each sharpened, oiled and wrapped in cloth.
- One hand-finished set box holding all three.
- A Certificate of Authenticity, hand-stamped with the maker's hanko, naming the smith and certifying each blade.
- A 5 yen coin tucked alongside the knives. "Go en" — the Japanese for five yen — is the homophone for luck, connection and bond. Returning the coin to the giver turns the gift into a symbolic purchase, neutralising the old superstition that a knife as a gift cuts the bond between giver and receiver.
- A care card with the sixty-second wash routine and a link to Knife School.
- Your lifetime warranty, registered to you automatically on all three blades when the order ships.
Frequently asked.
Can I swap a knife in the set?
Are all three knives under the lifetime warranty?
How do I sharpen them?
Is gift wrapping included?
How long does shipping take?
What if the set isn't right?
From the people who cook with it
Reviews.
I loved getting these and being able to see them in person! I was recommended these through a friend, ans they became the BEST set of knives for the kitchen!
I love them!
The knife set is phenomenal. Each piece is perfectly balanced and razor sharp.
Exceptional knife set! The craftsmanship is outstanding.
Outstanding knife set! Each piece serves its purpose perfectly.
