How Is a Sakai Knife Made, and How Much of It Can You Do?
Sakai knife making explained: smith, sharpener and handle maker, and what a visitor can do, from fitting and engraving a knife from $259 as of October 2026.
A Sakai knife passes through several specialists in turn, a smith who forges and hardens the blade, a sharpener who grinds the edge and a handle maker who fits the handle, and a visitor can join the end of that chain: you can fit the handle and have your name engraved, but no Sakai workshop lets you forge the blade.
What a Sakai knife is
A Sakai knife is a blade made in Sakai, the city just south of Osaka. The trade grew up in the old city, Sakai-ku, which is still home to many knife studios and wholesalers, according to Sakai’s tourism bureau. The forged blades, “Sakai Uchihamono”, were designated a traditional craft by Japan’s trade ministry on 5 March 1982, and Osaka’s tourism bureau says the city makes about 90% of the professional knives used in Japanese cuisine. Sakai’s own tourism bureau has also given 98%.
Sakai’s smiths first made tools for the building of the city’s giant 5th-century burial mounds. In the 16th century, when tobacco arrived from Portugal, they made knives for cutting the leaves, and the Tokugawa shogunate later stamped those blades with a Sakai seal and controlled their sale. The single-edged style that marks a Sakai kitchen knife today dates from the Genroku era at the end of the 17th century, according to the Sakai tourism bureau.
The chain: who does what
Osaka Prefecture lists the work on a Sakai forged knife as 15 steps. Grouped by stage, next to the craftsmen Osaka’s tourism bureau names for each part of the trade, they look like this:
| Stage | Who does it | What happens | Can a visitor do it in Sakai? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forging and heat treatment | The smith | Cut the steel, heat it to about 900°C and form the body, shape it with a hammer, anneal it, quench it in water from 750-800°C, temper it at 180-200°C | Watch only: the De Sakai forge on Japan Tour Adventure’s Wednesday route, or a smith on Osaka JOINER’s tour when one is open |
| Grinding and edge | The sharpener | Rough-grind, grind the face, straighten the blade with a chisel, grind the back into its hollow, thin the edge, buff, then put the final edge on with a small whetstone | Learn the final edge on whetstones: UGX’s class, or the Tuesday and Thursday lesson at Yamawaki Hamono |
| Handle | The handle fitter | Heat the tang, push it into the wooden handle, tap the end with a mallet | Yes: ENA inc.’s handle and engraving workshop and its longer Shogun’s Story day |
| Name | The engraver | Cut a brand or a name into the blade by hand | Watch a master engrave your name on your own knife (ENA inc.’s workshop) |
Eric Chevallier, a Paris-born smith who served a five-year apprenticeship in Sakai and now works his own 200-year-old forge there, explained the split to Smithsonian Magazine: “As the blacksmith only forges and doesn’t sharpen the knife, the apprentice doesn’t have the right to pass his product to the next craftsman for the finishing.” The magazine captions his workshop the Desakai Forge, and a September 2026 guest on Japan Tour Adventure’s tour describes the visit to Chevallier’s forge as fascinating.
What you can actually do in Sakai
Fit the handle and watch your name engraved. ENA inc.’s Craft Your Own Knife in Sakai is built around this. You meet your host at Sakai Station, walk to a traditional knife shop and see a private knife museum run by Sakai Tohji, a Sakai knife maker, with a short film on forging, sharpening and polishing. Then you attach the handle to your own real knife with the craftsman’s help, and a master engraves your name on the blade in Japanese letters or kanji while you watch. The knife goes home with you, packed for travel. It is private, takes 2.5 hours and costs from $259 as of October 2026; under-15s and over-70s cannot join.
If you want one knife from Sakai with your own work and your name on it, this is the one to book.
ENA inc.’s five-hour Shogun’s Story day (from $379) includes the same kind of handle fitting and engraving at Sakai Tōji, with a kaiseki lunch and a tea ceremony; knife-making participants must be 18 or come with an adult.
Work on a blade with a craftsman. Yamaguchi Motors’ three-day private tour from Tokyo spends day 2 in Sakai: a sharpening demonstration at the crafts museum, then a hands-on workshop where you work on the blade under a local craftsman’s guidance. Kansai Holiday’s 10-hour private day from Osaka includes a beginner activity (sharpening, finishing or handle work, depending on the workshop) that “is not a professional blacksmithing or full knife-forging course”.
Learn to sharpen. The sharpener’s final step is the one you can repeat at home. The Sakai knife sharpening guide compares the two ways to learn it.
If you want to forge
In Sakai you watch the forge. To swing the hammer, go to Kyoto. Kendo Experience’s three-hour class in Sakyo Ward starts from raw iron: it glows in the furnace, you strike it into shape, and the 13 to 15 cm knife you sharpen and polish at the end is yours. It is rated 4.9 from 1,030 reviews, from $151 as of October 2026, and closed to under-15s; its tour page lists what to bring. The Seki workshop on this site finishes a Damascus blade instead of forging one, and Sakai vs Seki knives explains how the two towns differ.
Which one for you
Handle and Engraving Workshop
Fit the handle, watch the engraving, take the knife home.
Check dates →Knife Maker or Blacksmith Tour
A forge on Wednesdays, a sharpening house on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
See this tour →Blacksmith Class, Kyoto
You do the forging, start to finish, in three hours. 15 and over.
See this class →Prices, ratings and review counts as of October 2026; operators change prices, so treat them as the shape of the market, not a quote.
Before you book
Everything on this page can be cancelled free up to 24 hours ahead. To see more of the trade on foot, read every Sakai knife tour compared.
Book the Sakai Knife Workshop
ENA inc.'s private 2.5-hour workshop: Sakai Tohji's knife museum and film, the handle fitted onto your own Sakai knife, your name engraved on the blade by a master, and the knife packed for travel. From $259 as of October 2026.
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