Home / Japanese knives / KYU
Sakai Kyuba · Knife line
KYU
An AUS10 core in 46 hammered Damascus layers, with our stabilised maple burl handle. Forged in Sakai by a master blacksmith whose family has been at this work since 1927. The line most of our customers own: the one we would hand a friend who cooks every night and means to keep it for life.
Four knives, two sets
Choose your KYU.
Same steel and the same handle across the line. The difference is the shape, and what it does best.
…
Side by side
The two sets
Each set pairs a main knife with the Nakiri and the Petty. Choose the one whose main knife suits how you cook.
The blade
Forty-six layers, one edge.
An AUS10 cutting core wrapped in 46 folded layers of softer steel, finished with a hammered (tsuchime) surface. The Damascus pattern is the visible trace of the folding; the hammering helps food release from the blade.
Each blade carries a slightly different wave in the steel. Each blade carries the line name, engraved by hand.
The handle
Made and mounted in Poland.
Every Oishya knife shares the same handle. The body is stabilised maple burl, waterproof and premium-cut, so every handle carries its own grain. The ferrule (kakumaki) is bog oak around 2,500 years old, joined to the burl by a hand-fitted copper ring.
The profile is octagonal and symmetrical, so it sits firmly in either a left or a right hand.
The hands that make it
Sakai. Six hundred years of blade-making.
Sakai, in Osaka, is the birthplace of the traditional Japanese kitchen knife, a craft passed down for six hundred years from the methods used to forge samurai swords. KYU is forged there by a master blacksmith whose family has been at this work since 1927. We make his blades under the name Sakai Kyuba.
Each blade passes through around two hundred and twenty steps over roughly three months; the hammering, finishing and sharpening are done by hand.
Meet our craftsmenSpecifications
What’s inside every KYU knife.
Blade
| Cutting core | AUS10 stainless |
|---|---|
| Outer layers | 46-layer Damascus |
| Finish | Hammered (tsuchime) + Damascus |
| Hardness | HRC 62 |
| Bevel | Double, for either hand |
| Forged in | Sakai, Japan |
Handle
| Body | Stabilised maple burl, waterproof |
|---|---|
| Ferrule (kakumaki) | Bog oak, around 2,500 years old |
| Ring | Hand-fitted copper |
| Profile | Octagonal, for left or right hand |
| Made and mounted in | Poland |
| Colours | Mediterranean Blue, Natural Brown, Olive Green |
Care. Hand wash and dry straight away. Use a wooden cutting board. Sharpen on a 1000/6000 whetstone three or four times a year. The full method is in Knife School.
The six lines
How KYU compares.
Every line shares the same handle. What changes is the steel, the layers and the finish.
| Line | Steel | Layers | Hardness | Finish | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Sakai Kyuba KYUThis line | AUS10 | 46 | HRC 62 | Hammered Damascus | ||
 Seki Kyuba KATA | VG10 | 3 | HRC 60–61 | Hammered | View KATA | |
 Seki Kyuba RYU | VG10 | 33 | HRC 60–61 | Damascus | View RYU | |
 Seki Kyuba NIJI | 12Cr18MoV | 37, with brass and copper | HRC 60–61 | Shot-blasted rainbow Damascus | View NIJI | |
 Seki Kyuba SHIN | SG2 (R2) | 31 | HRC 62–63 | Damascus | View SHIN | |
 Seki Kyuba PAN | 1K6 | Single steel | HRC 56–57 | Serrated bread knife | View PAN |
Still deciding?
Answer a few questions and we’ll suggest a knife and a line.