Updated November 5, 2026

A History of Knife Making in Sakai

The short answer. Sakai, a city in Osaka Prefecture, has made blades for centuries. Its kitchen-knife trade grew from tobacco-cutting knives made after the Portuguese brought tobacco to Japan in the 16th century; the Edo shogunate later let Sakai makers stamp their blades with a "Sakai kiwame" quality mark, and in 1982 Sakai forged blades were designated a national traditional craft.

On this page 10 sections

This page is an independent summary of Sakai's knife-making history, based on published material from the City of Sakai, Osaka Prefecture and the Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau. Every source is listed at the end. Where accounts are traditional rather than documented, we say so. This site has no connection with any Sakai maker, brand or trade association.

Where is Sakai?

Sakai is a port city on Osaka Bay, immediately south of the city of Osaka, in Osaka Prefecture. It is one of Japan's historic blade-making centers, best known today for traditional forged kitchen knives used by professional cooks of Japanese cuisine.

The city is also home to the Mozu group of ancient burial mounds (kofun). Together with the Furuichi group in neighboring cities, they were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group, on July 6, 2019. The City of Sakai describes these mounded tombs as about 1,600 years old. Those tombs are where the usual story of Sakai's metalworking begins.

Origins: smiths and the kofun burial mounds

Local accounts trace blacksmithing in Sakai to around the 5th century, when craftsmen are said to have settled in the area to make iron tools for building the great kofun burial mounds. This is a traditional account, repeated by Osaka's tourism bureau, rather than a documented line from those smiths to today's knife makers.

The Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau puts it this way: blacksmithing in Sakai is said to date to the 5th century, and its Japanese-language feature on Sakai knives describes the many people with smithing skills drawn to the area for tomb building, and a smithing tradition that later expanded into farm tools, swords and firearms.

It's best read as the root of Sakai's metalworking in general. The kitchen knives Sakai is known for came much later, and the documented history of those starts in the 16th century.

The 16th century: trade, firearms and tobacco

In the 16th century Sakai was a wealthy international trading port. Firearms reached Japan with the Portuguese in 1543, and Sakai became a major gun-making center during the Sengoku (Warring States) period. Tobacco also arrived from Portugal in that century, and Sakai smiths began making knives to cut its leaves.

Both the City of Sakai and Osaka Prefecture date the start of Sakai's knife industry to these tobacco knives (tabako-bocho). Osaka Prefecture places the start of tobacco-knife production in Sakai in the Azuchi-Momoyama period, the late 16th century.

The Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau presents the tobacco knife as a continuation of the smithing tradition that had already produced farm tools, swords and guns in Sakai. In its account, the port's trade brought the new product, and the town's smiths had the skills to make it.

The Edo period and the "Sakai kiwame" seal

Under the Edo (Tokugawa) shogunate, Sakai's tobacco knives were recognized for their cutting quality, and makers were permitted to sell them stamped with the mark 堺極 ("Sakai kiwame"), a guarantee that the blade was genuine Sakai work. According to the Osaka tourism bureau, the shogunate sold them exclusively, which spread the Sakai name nationwide.

The City of Sakai's own description of the craft says the shogunate allowed the "Sakai kiwame" mark because of the blades' excellent sharpness. The word kiwame carries the sense of a certified judgment, so the mark worked as an early stamp of origin and quality.

Over the Edo period, production broadened. Osaka Prefecture records that by the early Edo period Sakai was making deba knives and other cooking knives and had established a nationwide reputation for them. In the late Edo period it also made flower-arranging shears and garden shears, and each specialist trade organized its own merchant guild (kabu nakama), forming a production district.

The division of labor: forging, sharpening and handles

Sakai knives have long been made through a division of labor. Different specialist workshops handle each main stage: forging the blade, putting on the edge and sharpening it, and fitting the handle. A knife passes through several craftspeople's hands before it is finished.

The City of Sakai lists the three core stages as:

  • Forging (鍛造, tanzo). The smith heats and hammers the steel into the blade's shape. The city says mastering these techniques takes more than 10 to 15 years.
  • Edging and sharpening (刃付け・研ぎ, hatsuke and togi). A separate sharpening workshop grinds and polishes the blade and puts on the edge. The city notes that this stage alone involves more than ten steps.
  • Handle fitting (柄付け, etsuke). The blade is fitted to its handle and finished.

The Osaka tourism bureau's feature on Sakai knives describes the division as even finer, listing separate roles for forging, handle making, name engraving, sharpening and selling.

Why Sakai is known for single-bevel knives

Sakai's reputation rests on traditional Japanese single-bevel knives (kataba), sharpened on one side only, such as the deba for fish and the yanagiba for slicing sashimi. The City of Sakai describes the craft extending from tobacco knives into single-bevel cooking knives, and Osaka's tourism bureau says single-bevel knives are the mainstream type of Sakai forged knife.

The Osaka tourism bureau also notes that Sakai is said to make around 90 percent of Japan's professional knives for Japanese cuisine. That figure is reported as a common claim ("it is said"), not an official statistic, so treat it as a sign of reputation rather than a measured market share.

Single-bevel knives suit the demands of Japanese cooking: a very keen, thin edge for clean cuts through raw fish and precise vegetable work. They depend heavily on skilled forging and sharpening, the two stages Sakai's specialist workshops are organized around. You can read how these knives differ from everyday double-bevel knives in our single vs double bevel explainer, and see the yanagiba and deba for two typical Sakai shapes.

Sakai uchihamono: a designated traditional craft

"Sakai uchihamono" (堺打刃物, Sakai forged blades) was designated a traditional craft product (dentoteki kogeihin) by Japan's Minister of International Trade and Industry on March 5, 1982. In 2007 the names "Sakai hamono" and "Sakai uchihamono" were also registered as regional collective trademarks.

The ministry that made the designation is today the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which the City of Sakai now lists as the designating authority. Osaka Prefecture gives October 5, 2007 as the registration date of the regional collective trademark.

The City of Sakai stresses that the main processes, forging, edging and sharpening, and handle fitting, are still done by hand by skilled craftspeople in the division of labor described above.

The Sakai Traditional Crafts Museum

The best place to see Sakai's knife history in person is the Sakai Traditional Crafts Museum (Sakai Denshokan, 堺伝匠館), in Sakai-ku. Its second floor holds a knife museum, Sakai Hamono Museum "CUT", which shows the history of Sakai knives, how they are made and the tools used, with real objects, models and illustrations.

According to the City of Sakai, the building's first floor sells traditional Sakai products and its second floor is given over to exhibits on the city's traditional industries, including the knife museum. The Osaka tourism bureau's listing adds that the museum displays models of the knife-making process and samples of knife types, and that knife-making demonstrations can be watched for free.

The City of Sakai lists the address as 1-1-30 Zaimokucho-nishi, Sakai-ku, Sakai (堺区材木町西1丁1-30). Opening hours, demonstration times and closing days change, so check the official listings before you visit.

Sakai knives today

Sakai still makes traditional forged knives by hand, through networks of independent smiths, sharpeners and handle makers, and sells them in Japan and abroad. "Sakai" on a knife usually tells you where the blade was made or finished, not who made it, since many makers and sellers work in the city.

If you're buying a Sakai-made knife, the same advice applies as for any Japanese knife: choose the shape for how you cook, check the steel and bevel, and plan how you'll sharpen it. Single-bevel knives in particular need whetstone sharpening; see our guide to sharpening Japanese knives, and the types of Japanese knives to see where each traditional shape fits.

Sources

All historical claims on this page come from the following sources, checked in November 2026. Most are in Japanese.