Seki is one of three great knife smithing cities in the world. Sollingren in Germany and Sheffield in the UK are the other two. As Seki is driving distance from Nagoya, I decided to head there and buy a knife when i was there.
I originally wanted to buy something I didn’t already have or wouldn’t mind replacing. A cleaver, boning knife, or a paring knife. However, I landed on a Chinese knife. My most used one at home is also a well-used Chinese knife from Henckles.
It was a fantastic buy! Not cheap but that was to be expected. I got it for about USD250. I saw it at the Gifu Cutlery Hall which is next to a knife museum. They have a wide selection of knives for sale. I didn’t buy it straight away as I wanted to look around the city first. But it was tempting and I ultimately went back to buy it.
I had my hopes high and thought I’d be able to visit some of the famous cutlers. Not quite possible. Either they are not listed on Google or they do not accept visitors. Either way, the only one I was able to visit was Yaxwell. That was nice considering I own two of their knives.
My recommendation is to visit Seki only if you intend to buy a knife. If are, then Gifu Cutlery Hall is your best bet. From Seki, you could drive to Monet No Pond which is a 45min drive away.
By the way, if you are in Tokyo, you can head to Kappabashi in Asakusa. I bought a couple of knives from Tsubaya more than 10 years ago. They are great!
