Anyone know anything about Japanese kitchen knives?

[Grant Lamontagne]

I got this one from a coworker and it obviously needs some cleaning, and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about it.

Japanese kitchen knives are hardly my specialty.   

The only thing I know about it is that my coworker got it from a Japanese fishing trawler in the late 80's or early 90's before these things became popular.  Japanese vessel cooks would apparently trade them to fishermen on other ships to get things they couldn't get at home.

I did touch up the edge a little bit and it is extremely sharp- like way more than you'd expect for such a thick blade.  That makes sense for a working knife.

I tried Google Translate on the maker's mark, but nothing came up.  My Kanji isn't too great these days so maybe I'm trying to translate it upside down or something.   

Any help would be appreciated!

Def

[David Bowen]

All I know from my digging into sharpening stuff is a water stone is the way to go. Let me do some digging and see if I can identify it for you.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[IMR4198]

Japanese knife.  You need a Japanese knife expert.  PM Hiraboo.  Best wishes.  G
 

[Antti Lammi]

I used chat gpt-4 help to analyze text and here is results

answer 1 based on close up picture.

Kireaji (切れ味) means “sharpness” or “cutting edge” in English. It is a term that is often used to describe the quality of knives or other cutting tools. It can also refer to the skill or technique of using such tools.
According to the web search results , kireaji is also the name of a Japanese knife set and a YouTube channel by Kaijirushi, a global knife manufacturer. Additionally, kireaji is related to katsuramuki, a Japanese technique of slicing vegetables into thin sheets.

And analyzed second pic, one with side shows sametext

The knife itself looks like a deba, which is a type of Japanese knife used for cutting fish and meat. It has a thick spine and a pointed tip, and is usually single-beveled. The text on the knife is the same as the previous one you sent me: 日本刀 (Nihontō), which means Japanese sword, and 鍛冶屋 (Kajiya), which means blacksmith.


Only Tools Matters

[hiraboo]

> IMR4198
Thank you for the invitation.  (￣ω￣)／



I don't know much about kitchen knives, but I found some information in my search about the Kanji letters engraved on the blade and I will share it with you.

There are 4 Kanji letters.
The top two letters are "特撰", meaning "made with special care".
The last two letters are "貞義", pronounced "Sada-yoshi", means the name of the creator or the brand name.

As far as I can tell, "貞義" brand knives seem to be more of a product for professional fishermen than for consumer use. Therefore, these knives are shaped specifically for dismantling fish.
The manufacturer seems to have been well known to fishermen and fish processors for a long time, but detailed information on the manufacturer was not available.

It is featured on the website of a store that sells fishing industry supplies.

For example.
https://fishingdirect.jp/category/select/pid/11043/language/ja
https://fishingdirect.jp/category/select/pid/11043/language/en
https://morikou-net.co.jp/item/item136/

All I can say is that this knife is a professional, high-performance product that is not available on the market very often.
I hope this information is useful to you.
Please take good care of it. (*´∇`*)

[Grant Lamontagne]

That is some excellent information, and I greatly appreciate you taking the time to look into it.

 

Def